New ECF ratings codes

[Roger de Coverly]

If you are a "serious" amateur player then you should be playing at least 30 games a year in the absence of Covid (in my humble opinion).

Play once a week in leagues or club championships, add county matches and 4NCL at weekends, the numbers mount up even before a five round weekend tournament or two. It helps to be a "first team" player of course as invites to play in team matches aren't difficult to come by.

[Graham Borrowdale]

The number 30 has a special significance in chess rating theory. Richard Clarke identified it as the minimum number of games needed to establish s reasonably accurate rating. If you are a "serious" amateur player then you should be playing at least 30 games a year in the absence of Covid (in my humble opinion).

I can see that the 30 games might have statistical significance, but what about the 12 month period? Is a grade attained over 30 games in 2 years any less accurate than one attained over 30 games in 1 year, especially for those who’s playing strength has, at best, plateaued?

[Joey Stewart]

f you are a "serious" amateur player then you should be playing at least 30 games a year in the absence of Covid (in my humble opinion).

If you substitute "serious" for "seriously rich" then you definitely have a good point.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Even more so, a rich player living in Southern England.

[Mike Gunn]

The number 30 has a special significance in chess rating theory. Richard Clarke identified it as the minimum number of games needed to establish s reasonably accurate rating. If you are a "serious" amateur player then you should be playing at least 30 games a year in the absence of Covid (in my humble opinion).

I can see that the 30 games might have statistical significance, but what about the 12 month period? Is a grade attained over 30 games in 2 years any less accurate than one attained over 30 games in 1 year, especially for those who’s playing strength has, at best, plateaued?

OK, if your performance isn't changing over the time span that the 30 games take place. It's really an issue for juniors I think - playing 30 games in one year would (almost) wipe out your history and there would be less lag in your grade catching up with your actual peformance than there is with the new system.

[NickFaulks]

If you substitute "serious" for "seriously rich" then you definitely have a good point.

Not sure I understand that. I play thirty rated games each year at my local club, for a membership fee of £50. While I realise that for some people this is a lot of money to spend on their primary hobby, for most it is not.

[Mike Gunn]

I also play 30+ games at my local club and leagues for the cost of my ECF + club membership s. You need to get your local club + leagues to organise more events!

[Joey Stewart]

The higher your rating the more you get priced out of chess - I can only play division 1 in my league (which is only a game every two weeks) and the open sections of any individual contests I enter so even with playing every single match I was eligible for that is still only 13 plus maybe 5-7 games in my club championship. Anything beyond that and I'm having to shell out big money for congresses or 4ncl.

[David Sedgwick]

The higher your rating the more you get priced out of chess - I can only play division 1 in my league (which is only a game every two weeks) and the open sections of any individual contests I enter so even with playing every single match I was eligible for that is still only 13 plus maybe 5-7 games in my club championship. Anything beyond that and I'm having to shell out big money for congresses or 4ncl.

Could you play in the County Championships?

[Joey Stewart]

I do still play county but Gloucestershire now have their games online, which I do actually quite appreciate a lot more then a 5-8 hour journey to play other WECU counties but the consequence for the convenience is only having an online rating for it.

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's not just Joey's strength that's the issue here, but also his local population density - if he lived in London rather than Gloucester, it would be very easy for him to get 30 games/season at a relatively low cost. Of course, this would be more than offset by the high cost of living in London itself.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"It's not just Joey's strength that's the issue here, but also his local population density - if he lived in London rather than Gloucester, it would be very easy for him to get 30 games/season at a relatively low cost."

Yes - when I lived in Surrey, all but two of the many clubs were within half an hour's drive. Now I'm in Somerset, the nearest three clubs are about half an hour's drive away. Even I can't be bothered to drive that far just to play the odd friendly game.

[Dan Lambourne]

As someone who plays in the North Gloucestershire League, I got to my 30 games by playing for Redditch in the Birmingham League (11 games) and Worcester League (7 games) and for Cheltenham in the North Glos League (12 games), with county and 4NCL taking me over the 30, so it can be done with registering for just two clubs even here, although it does help with me being slightly closer to Birmingham than Joey is.

Those south within the North Glos league, play in the Bristol League to get additional games, although I don't know if the games there are enough to get to 30, whilst I know of one player who plays both directions to get over 40 games, without county, 4NCL or congresses.

I must admit it can be a lot of travelling, especially for away games, but I tend to have more evenings free than weekends, so it suits me more than playing in congresses.