Rating System
The rating system for the TCA is based on the 1960 ELO system.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system This will be a single tier
k/32 factor system as opposed to the 2 or 3 tier systems that USCF and other organizations use. If there are thousands of members someday this may need to be revised.
Un-Rated Players (UNR)
Unrated players will have 0 rating for pairing purposes. If there is
more than one UNR they will be paired alphabetically. When the
tournament is being rated, all rating calculations will be made as if
the player had a 1200 rating during the first tournament. After that
the provisional rating will be used.
Provisional Ratings
Provisional ratings are based on the rating average of the first 20
tournament games. During the provisional period, if you win a
game you take your opponents rating +400 and add it to your
average, if you draw you take your opponents rating and average it
in, and if you lose you take your opponents rating -400 and
average it in. You keep doing this until 20 games have been
played and at that point you have the Official Rating. During the
time you have a provisional rating, if you are given a bye or a
forfeit win, you will have a 1200 rating averaged in, after you
have the official rating a bye or forfeit win will not be eligible for
any rating. Provisional ratings are used for pairing purposes after
the first tournament!
Official Ratings
TCA starts ELO style ratings when you have been given an official rating. There are two ways to get an official rating:
1. Once you have played 20 provisional games you will be given an official rating.
2. If you have a fide rating - that will be your first official rating.
3. The maximum rating given to any fide player is 2000 (any fide over 2000 will start at 2000). TCA calculations will not
have any influence on a players fide rating! The fide rating is simply a number used to create the TCA official rating.
Titles
There will be 3 titles awarded based on rating. These titles in order to be taken seriously should be very difficult to attain!
1. Master – anyone that reaches a 2200 official rating.
2. Junior Master – anyone 16 years old and under that reaches a 1900 official rating.
3. Primary Master – anyone 12 years old and under that reaches a 1700 official rating.
How the TCA system works after the official rating is achieved.
The k/32 factor system means that the most you can win, and the most you can lose is 32 points per game. The least you can win, or lose is 1 point per game.
Example #1
If you play somebody 400 or more points higher than you, if you win you get 32 points, if you draw you get 16 points, if you lose you lose 1 point.
Example #2
If you play somebody your same rating + or – 24 points, if you win you get 16 points, if you lose you lose 16 points, if you draw 0 points.
Example #3
If you play somebody 25 to 49 points higher than you, if you win you get 17 points, if you tie you get 1 point, if you lose, you lose 15 points.
Basically for every 25 rating point difference, the scale goes up or down by one point until you reach the maximum difference of 400 points.
Bonus Rating Points
The main flaw of Professor Elo's rating system was that it didn't take into account large jumps in skill that can happen when a player really starts to take a leap in understanding. In the 1980's USCF tried to correct this with a bonus system that doubled any point gained over 50 in a single tournament. I think this is a very
reasonable way to to ratings for the first two years to get some of the youth players up to their proper rating more quickly, we can revise the subject again during yearly meetings.
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