13-08-2016, 03:30 PM
The following applies only to Standard play FIDE ratings. I have yet to meet a player who takes their Rapid or Blitz rating with anything like the same degree of seriousness and that includes some of the world’s top players.
I have HUGE sympathy for Steve and the other players who have little to gain and much to lose in a FIDE rated weekender. As only games against FIDE rated opponents will count these players will find that a significant number of their wins do not gain them any rating points. Even conceding a draw is therefore likely to cost them a significant number of rating points. A score of 4½/5 will maintain their CS grade and would probably also keep their FIDE rating near its level. Unfortunately the 4½ might translate to 2½ out of 3 for FIDE games and possibly even 1½/2.
However, as always there is the other side of the coin. If all their wins were to count then Scotland needs more FIDE rated players and preferably at a reasonably high rating. The easiest way to get a FIDE rating for most players is to play in a couple of FIDE rated weekenders. Without getting too technical, juniors have a high k factor. This means that they can improve their rating at quite a fast level IF they play rated games regularly. A large number of juniors with high ratings would improve everyone’s ratings eventually provided the conveyor belt continued. To achieve this you would be asking high rated players to sacrifice rating points in the hope that at some point in the future the congress scene would be so dynamic that these points might be regained. I’m not sure that would be realistic.
Currently the only one round a day event is the Scottish. In the past we have had a variety of others popping up from time to time. Staging 9 round events is costly and there is limited room on the calendar.
At the moment we have a number of young juniors coming on to the FIDE system at middle to low rating levels. These players improve rapidly but because they are not playing FIDE rated games their international rating is significantly lower than their ‘real’ ability. This causes deflation and players like Steve are the ones who suffer.
We are in a Catch 22 situation. Ideally the youngsters could keep their FIDE ratings up to date by playing in FIDE rated Majors. But this would require these Major players to have FIDE ratings in the first place. Such ratings would be very difficult to achieve by playing in Majors.
In Scotland 10 player all play alls were relatively common and were used to produce rated players (4 rated players produced an additional 6 after 2 weekends of play). However the effectiveness of these is less now and FIDE charge €100 minimum for rating these as opposed to the normal €1 per player.
Is there a solution for bringing on the younger players without penalising the ‘old guard’? I’d love to hear suggestions.
I have HUGE sympathy for Steve and the other players who have little to gain and much to lose in a FIDE rated weekender. As only games against FIDE rated opponents will count these players will find that a significant number of their wins do not gain them any rating points. Even conceding a draw is therefore likely to cost them a significant number of rating points. A score of 4½/5 will maintain their CS grade and would probably also keep their FIDE rating near its level. Unfortunately the 4½ might translate to 2½ out of 3 for FIDE games and possibly even 1½/2.
However, as always there is the other side of the coin. If all their wins were to count then Scotland needs more FIDE rated players and preferably at a reasonably high rating. The easiest way to get a FIDE rating for most players is to play in a couple of FIDE rated weekenders. Without getting too technical, juniors have a high k factor. This means that they can improve their rating at quite a fast level IF they play rated games regularly. A large number of juniors with high ratings would improve everyone’s ratings eventually provided the conveyor belt continued. To achieve this you would be asking high rated players to sacrifice rating points in the hope that at some point in the future the congress scene would be so dynamic that these points might be regained. I’m not sure that would be realistic.
Currently the only one round a day event is the Scottish. In the past we have had a variety of others popping up from time to time. Staging 9 round events is costly and there is limited room on the calendar.
At the moment we have a number of young juniors coming on to the FIDE system at middle to low rating levels. These players improve rapidly but because they are not playing FIDE rated games their international rating is significantly lower than their ‘real’ ability. This causes deflation and players like Steve are the ones who suffer.
We are in a Catch 22 situation. Ideally the youngsters could keep their FIDE ratings up to date by playing in FIDE rated Majors. But this would require these Major players to have FIDE ratings in the first place. Such ratings would be very difficult to achieve by playing in Majors.
In Scotland 10 player all play alls were relatively common and were used to produce rated players (4 rated players produced an additional 6 after 2 weekends of play). However the effectiveness of these is less now and FIDE charge €100 minimum for rating these as opposed to the normal €1 per player.
Is there a solution for bringing on the younger players without penalising the ‘old guard’? I’d love to hear suggestions.