Minimum rating idea

  

Minimum rating idea


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Nick Burrows    (2009-07-04)
Minimum rating idea

A common problem encountered in correspondance chess is that of strong players forefitting several games and their rating dropping by hundreds of points

This spoils the tourny for lower rated players who often have a 2200 rated player in their group with a misleading rating of 1600.
It also de-stabilises the ratings across the whole site as many players grades are false.
Lastly, and of least concern because players who made the drop deserve some handicap - the artificially low-graded player has a whole year of uncompetitive matches as he waits to regain points.

In o.t.b tournaments in England, a method employed to stop rating cheats is that a player who has won a certain class of tournament previously, cannot re-enter at that level.
The equivalent here would be that your rating has a minimum value, equal to the highest rating requirement of a tournament class you have previously won.

This seems to solve the problems experienced by many on this site.

It may be said that the rating drop is a necessary deterrent to prevent players from doing this. My experience is that it occurs from factors out of one's control (illness) and any deterrant is irrelevant - just as a death penalty doesn't stop heroin addicts from stealing!

What d'yall think?


Nick Burrows    (2009-07-04 07:59:16)
*edit*

I should have said 'the threat of a death penalty'. The death penalty itself would certainly stop you from stealing!!


Scott Nichols    (2009-07-05 15:49:11)
Good idea!

I brought this up one other time Nick. Thib wanted more discussion on it. Maybe a players rating could be "provisional" until he has played 20 games and then it could become "established" rating. I think a player should never drop more than one class below his/her highest established rating. If the classes are 1600-1799, 1800-1999 etc. Then a player who reached for example 1983 could never drop below 1600. Or, if a player reached 2001, he/she could never drop below 1800.


Nick Burrows    (2009-07-05 16:12:04)
rating drop

I suppose that is the best way to do it. Even a drop from 1993 > 1600 seems a little too big to me. I think this one whole class drop should be the absolute maximum drop allowed.


Nick Burrows    (2009-07-05 16:16:49)
Recent groups

It actually seems the norm rather than the exception that the lower groups are 'stacked' with at least 1 or 2 ex-2000+ rated players with low ratings

In my first Class C group after my rating drop there were 4 of us battling it out!


Thibault de Vassal    (2009-07-05 23:14:20)
Interesting idea

"In o.t.b tournaments in England, a method employed to stop rating cheats is that a player who has won a certain class of tournament previously, cannot re-enter at that level."

I quite like the idea in this way. Maybe it can be improved even without complicating the rules too much. Anyway if someone wants to make trouble in some tournaments (it did happen), there's no perfect way to prevent him and it is better in class B or A (2000+) than in class 2400+ IMO.