Calculating ECF grading changes from international results
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:16 pm
I'm hoping some of those reading this forum will be able to help answer a question I have (which I don't really want to bother the ECF grading people with just yet, though if any are posting here and want to comment, that would be great). It concerns results from an event I played abroad in June 2010, the results of which are here:
http://chess-results.com/tnr34970.aspx? ... r=16&lan=1
I've played in events like this for the past few years and usually (I think because I am an ECF Direct Member and I try and make sure the submission of results gets done) the results eventually get fed back to the ECF grading people and get included in my ECF grading calculation (it has certainly appeared on some of the printouts I received, but usually as a single block calculation). Like the British, the events tend to take place over the summer and if submitted they count for the following season's grading list. What I'm trying to do is very roughly estimate what the likely effect on my ECF grade would be for the results from the June 2010 event.
In trying to work this out, it doesn't help that I played two players without FIDE ratings (rounds 6 and 7), there was a walkover in round 2 (so it is 6 games, not 7), and I played three players with FIDE ratings (rounds 1, 8 and 9). My opponent from round 3, according to the FIDE September 2010 rating list, doesn't have the 2229 FIDE rating listed at chess-results.com, but now seems to have a part rating of 2177 from that event if that helps in estimating anything. One of my opponents (round 7) is from Scotland and had an ECF rating in July 2009 of 137, but no rating in the July 2010 list, so that probably simplifies things somewhat (I wonder what would happen if you play someone with an ECF rating during an international event abroad and only one player submitted the result for grading when they got home, and the other player didn't - does it still get graded for both players?). I presume all six players are considered ungraded for ECF purposes, and the grading performance for ECF purposes is calculated from the overall tournament results, but I've never been clear how this is done.
As an aside, on reflection, I'm not quite sure why this ECF grading of international results is done or if it is in fact helpful. As far as I can tell, it is purely voluntary and you have to be a Direct Member to get this service, and could presumably pick and chose which results from international events to submit. As an example, one of the tournament results from a previous year (from June 2009, intended for the July 2010 ECF list) never made it to the right person or got lost somewhere. As the result was poor (1/6 against generally higher rated opposition) and would probably only have affected my July 2010 grade by 2 points (157 instead of 159), I haven't bothered to follow it up (probably too late now anyway). But it raised a general question in my mind about whether such submission of international results for consideration for ECF grading is usually only done on an individual basis, when it will increase the grade of the person submitting the results, or whether it is done on a more consistent basis?
I suppose if you play most of your chess abroad, rather than the occasional tournaments, it can be useful to submit such results to prevent your grade disappearing due to inactivity (I wonder how much it counts towards the number of games played?), and it helps build up a more accurate picture of an individual's grade, but I'm sure there are disadvantages as well. I've seen others on this forum mention that they've submitted results from events played abroad for ECF grading. Maybe they can shed some light on the whole process and what the reasons are for doing it and how common it is?
http://chess-results.com/tnr34970.aspx? ... r=16&lan=1
I've played in events like this for the past few years and usually (I think because I am an ECF Direct Member and I try and make sure the submission of results gets done) the results eventually get fed back to the ECF grading people and get included in my ECF grading calculation (it has certainly appeared on some of the printouts I received, but usually as a single block calculation). Like the British, the events tend to take place over the summer and if submitted they count for the following season's grading list. What I'm trying to do is very roughly estimate what the likely effect on my ECF grade would be for the results from the June 2010 event.
In trying to work this out, it doesn't help that I played two players without FIDE ratings (rounds 6 and 7), there was a walkover in round 2 (so it is 6 games, not 7), and I played three players with FIDE ratings (rounds 1, 8 and 9). My opponent from round 3, according to the FIDE September 2010 rating list, doesn't have the 2229 FIDE rating listed at chess-results.com, but now seems to have a part rating of 2177 from that event if that helps in estimating anything. One of my opponents (round 7) is from Scotland and had an ECF rating in July 2009 of 137, but no rating in the July 2010 list, so that probably simplifies things somewhat (I wonder what would happen if you play someone with an ECF rating during an international event abroad and only one player submitted the result for grading when they got home, and the other player didn't - does it still get graded for both players?). I presume all six players are considered ungraded for ECF purposes, and the grading performance for ECF purposes is calculated from the overall tournament results, but I've never been clear how this is done.
As an aside, on reflection, I'm not quite sure why this ECF grading of international results is done or if it is in fact helpful. As far as I can tell, it is purely voluntary and you have to be a Direct Member to get this service, and could presumably pick and chose which results from international events to submit. As an example, one of the tournament results from a previous year (from June 2009, intended for the July 2010 ECF list) never made it to the right person or got lost somewhere. As the result was poor (1/6 against generally higher rated opposition) and would probably only have affected my July 2010 grade by 2 points (157 instead of 159), I haven't bothered to follow it up (probably too late now anyway). But it raised a general question in my mind about whether such submission of international results for consideration for ECF grading is usually only done on an individual basis, when it will increase the grade of the person submitting the results, or whether it is done on a more consistent basis?
I suppose if you play most of your chess abroad, rather than the occasional tournaments, it can be useful to submit such results to prevent your grade disappearing due to inactivity (I wonder how much it counts towards the number of games played?), and it helps build up a more accurate picture of an individual's grade, but I'm sure there are disadvantages as well. I've seen others on this forum mention that they've submitted results from events played abroad for ECF grading. Maybe they can shed some light on the whole process and what the reasons are for doing it and how common it is?
