point increases

I usually recieve 8 points when I win a match. So I'm wondering why I only recieved 5 points on my last game.

Also at what level do you start to get larger increases.

As far as I can tell, points are based on your rating as apposed to your opponents rating. So if you win against someone that is rated less than you the number of points your receive will be less than if you win against a higher rated player. I'm sure there are other factors but I have no idea what they are.

You want larger increases? Stop playing so many rated games. Seriously. The glickman rating formula will reward dormancy with larger point swings. I accidentally played a rated game yesterday (and lost) and dropped 40 points. Had I won I would have gained 40.

There are two major factors:

- The amount of rated games you have played recently (in that catagory). The higher this number, the less your rating will change (win, lose or draw).

- The relative rating of your opponent. The higher your opponent is rated the more the ratings will change should you win (yours and theirs) and the less the ratings will change should you lose.

I suppose the best way to test if you understand any of this to to ask yourself what you think happens to your rating should you draw.

The answer is, if you draw a higher rated opponent, your rating will increase. If you draw a lower rated opponent your rating will decrease. If you got that wrong, there is no hope for you.

I moved 40 points because (for me) it's been a very long time between Rated games.  I play a lot of unrated games and very few rated ones.  The more frequently you play rated games, the smaller the rating swings will become.  The less frequently you play rated games, the larger the rating swings become.