Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Rating system flawed for online play?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 08:56:26 06/26/04

Go up one level in this thread


On June 26, 2004 at 05:07:49, Sune Fischer wrote:

>On June 24, 2004 at 20:08:17, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>
>>Hello,
>>
>>Perhaps open a discussion.
>>
>>I played a few games at FICS now and again see the same thing. If you play much
>>lower rated (say 200-700 points), then you lose points simply. If you play equal
>>or higher rated then you win rating.
>>
>>A lot of higher rated players are non stop declining to play games at 3 0. It is
>>not nice. But it does bring them points.
>>
>>What to do to fix this problem other than avoid certain pairings?
>
>It's a well known issue with the Elo system, it pridicts too high odds for the
>higher rated player when the Elo difference is large.
>
>The higher rated player must over perform or he loses rating, so of course on
>average he will lose rating against lower rated opponents.
>
>-S.

There is another flaw.  It doesn't consider the difference between a player that
plays 1-2 tournaments per year and his strength can change significantly between
events, and the player that plays dozens of games per day.

The "glicko" system used on FICS handles this _very_ well.  The more you play
the more stable your rating becomes.  If you become inactive and then play
again, your rating can adjust signficantly for a while until it stabilizes
again...  It isn't a "zero-sum" deal like Elo, I can lose more or less than you
gain if you beat me...





This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.