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Avatar of Graceclaw

I have some questions about the rating system. I thought I was just getting unlucky with it, but one of my opponents in Online chess insists that I ask somebody.

I lost to someone with a rating 300 points higher than me and lost 30 points off my rating.

My rating like plummetted really fast with a few losses- and we weren't even that far off in rating. You can check my online chess rating/game history to see for yourself......I dunno, I'll get it up again, but if it is an issue it's best that it gets brought up.....Thanks.

I quote my opponent: "

fti9999: You need to contact somebody. There is no way that you should have dropped 30 points after losing to someone 300 points higher than you.

fti9999: I am over nearly 500 points higher than you and if I lose against you, I only lose 26 points.

fti9999: I think something is wrong..."

Avatar of RyanMK

Alright, here's the thing. A factor in determining rating change is something I call "completed game density" for lack of a better term. This means that the more games you have completed recently, the LESS your score will change per game. As I look at your game history, it appears as you don't complete games extremely often, therefore your rating will fluxuate more per game than somebody who completes 10 games a day. 

 

This was implemented because if you play a lot of games, your current rating will be very close to your true rating, but if you don't play that often, there is a possibility that your true rating is far from your current rating.

Avatar of chaosdreamer
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Avatar of Graceclaw

Why does it work like that? That's stupid! Especially if it works for gaining too! Like, I lost a bunch of games at the beginning due to stupid blunders I probably wouldn't make now. And now my rating is crap. If I play people who play a lot and beat them, and they're like 1400, it'll take me a while to fight back up, even to 1200??

Avatar of RyanMK
Graceclaw wrote:

Why does it work like that? That's stupid! Especially if it works for gaining too! Like, I lost a bunch of games at the beginning due to stupid blunders I probably wouldn't make now. And now my rating is crap. If I play people who play a lot and beat them, and they're like 1400, it'll take me a while to fight back up, even to 1200??


 No, it doesn't matter how much your opponents play, ONLY how much YOU play affects your rating.

Look at it this way, let's say a GM comes to the site and has an actual rating of 2600. Everyone starts at a 1200, and this includes him as well. Now, if the rating were only to increase a little per game, it'd take him almost 50 games to get to his correct rating! That's ridiculous.