4NCL Online

[Brian Valentine]

[Indeed - that is probably what a grading list produces].

Whenever a grading list is produced in graphical form, it invariably comes out looking Normal. The ECF one of Clarke grades peaks at around the 135 to 140 area. Whilst it's plausible for the upper end to be Normal or have a strong resemblance, an explanation of the left hand side is that extremely weak players don't play in graded or rated chess. Thus there's a minimum standard which enough participating players exceed to get a Normal shape.

We can use FIDE list as an example.

[Joseph Conlon]

Whereas online blitz (here lichess) produces a jagged distribution as players stop for a break once they hit a goal round number....

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[Roger de Coverly]

Whereas online blitz (here lichess) produces a jagged distribution as players stop for a break once they hit a goal round number....

It's showing the pattern of hardly any players on the far left hand side of the distribution, ratings closer to zero in other words. FIDE by contrast has a minimum rating of 1000 which makes for a truncation at that level.

[Joseph Conlon]

Roger - yes. Its also affected by the fact that lichess start everyone at 1500 (I imagine chess.com would be different as they start people lower). One other data point I can put on that, from my 7-year old, is that an ECF rapidplay grade of ~50 corresponds to a lichess blitz rating of ~1250.

[John McKenna]

A quick question for Brian V - the histogram of FIDE ratings, given above, is it for English players only? (Since the ordinate axis only goes up to about 10,000 roughly the number of players in the ECF grading pool and no where near the number of all players in the FIDE rating pool.)

[Brian Valentine]

A quick question for Brian V - the histogram of FIDE ratings, given above, is it for English players only? (Since the ordinate axis only goes up to about 10,000 roughly the number of players in the ECF grading pool and no where near the number of all players in the FIDE rating pool.)

It's all FIDE standard play rated players who are not inactive, there are nearly 195,000 plotted there.

Given the ECF list is bell shaped, if not normal, it gives an insight on why the conversion formula appears a moveable feast.

[John McKenna]

Thanks, Brian.

I forgot the 'frequency' is cumulative so it's the area under the histogram that gives total number of players.

Joseph Conlon's Lichess graph is also interesting. I note the rating scale there runs from 600 to 2800 points. Is there a rating floor of about 600 there, I wonder.

PS I owe Joseph Conlon an apology for questioning whether it is ethical to report opponents suspected of cheating. Now I've read the "fair play" rules, dotted about online, I see the providers actively encourage players to do so. I can't blame players for doing what the platforms ask, but would still have reservations about doing so myself if I ever return to playing online.

[Roger de Coverly]

Is there a rating floor of about 600 there, I wonder.

It's more likely to do with starting new players at 1500 regardless of how bad they are. That injects points into the system so that the minimum achieved rating doesn't spiral downwards.

[John McKenna]

There is nothing known to humankind by inductive reasoning within 10 sigma bounds.

Winning any lottery with over 100 ticket purchasers and only one winner is a 10 sigma event.

Sorry Paul, but I'd like to congratulate Nick on his practical sense of standard deviation -

A standard deviation of 10 may be insignificant if the average observation is around 10,000 but may be substantial if the average observation is around 100.

Dr. Chris Chatfield (Retired) Reader in Statistics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Bath U.

https://people.bath.ac.uk/mascc/

[David Sedgwick]

PS I owe Joseph Conlon an apology for questioning whether it is ethical to report opponents suspected of cheating. Now I've read the "fair play" rules, dotted about online, I see the providers actively encourage players to do so. I can't blame players for doing what the platforms ask, but would still have reservations about doing so myself if I ever return to playing online.

They are encouraged to report them through the specified procedures. They are - rightly - discouraged from making public allegations in the chat.

[John McKenna]

I'd cut out the chat if playing a serious game.

Players are not allowed to chat during a game in OTB chess and I see little if any use for it online, personally.

[David Sedgwick]

They are encouraged to report them through the specified procedures. They are - rightly - discouraged from making public allegations in the chat.

I'd cut out the chat if playing a serious game.

Players are not allowed to chat during a game in OTB chess and I see little if any use for it online, personally.

I should have made it clear that I wasn't talking about chat during games.

In the early stages of the recent European Online Championships, there were a lot of problems with cheating. There were also a lot of problems with players making accusations in the chat between the rounds or after the day's play. They were told in no uncertain terms not to do this.

[Neil Graham]

Notification has just been received of the withdrawal of another squad just two days before the final rounds of the preliminaries. This will actually affect play-offs and relegation issues as three teams are involved - this withdrawal means that the teams concerned will finish on zero points.

[David Sedgwick]

Notification has just been received of the withdrawal of another squad just two days before the final rounds of the preliminaries. This will actually affect play-offs and relegation issues as three teams are involved - this withdrawal means that the teams concerned will finish on zero points.

Does anyone know whether there is an official statement about this?

[Roger Lancaster]

Notification has just been received of the withdrawal of another squad just two days before the final rounds of the preliminaries. This will actually affect play-offs and relegation issues as three teams are involved - this withdrawal means that the teams concerned will finish on zero points.

Surbiton have pulled out in protest at "computer assistance" accusation which they strongly deny