23-12-2013, 11:02 AM
Dealing with the points above.
Council decided that performance should be used for tie-break. w-we as used for the last few Scottish Championships was the only consistent measure of performance. Performance rating varied with the software used (Chessbase for example produced a different figure from Swiss Master). Initially Performance Rating was used but that very nearly caused a problem one year when different programs were producing different leaders!
I therefore decided to both obey Council and use the undisputed performance measure.
Following complaints I have reverted to the original method but specified the source to be used.
No method of tie break is satisfactory. Recent work has produced a very complicated formula which uses a variety of methods with a weighting attached to each. It showed the best simple calculation was sum of progressives, a method dismissed by FIDE. (I'm not going into details but the research involved looking at ties after 7 rounds and comparing the results of various methods with the actual results after 9 rounds.)
The Senior definition has been changing. In Scotland it was originally 50 but Council felt that it should be increased. The intended figure was 60. The age was increased in stages to 55 at which point FIDE also used this so I stopped increasing it.
There is nothing in the FIDE statutes which states that any age is mandatory. Indeed one event has defined Senior as 50-64! At 65 you become Veteran only.
Until FIDE sorts out the mess it seems to be getting itself into with Senior/Veteran it seems simpler to wait and see (ie stick with the current) and then decide if change should be made. This is what I intend to do.
If you look carefully at the entry form I have defined Senior for the Scottish but it has not been done for the Commonwealth (though there is an implication that it is the same). This was deliberate.
Just as it is seen by some that being registered with FIDE as SCO does not mean that you are automatically Scottish, being 50 does not mean that you are automatically a Senior in every event. For the British Senior title you must be considerably older!!!
I hope this clarifies things.
Council decided that performance should be used for tie-break. w-we as used for the last few Scottish Championships was the only consistent measure of performance. Performance rating varied with the software used (Chessbase for example produced a different figure from Swiss Master). Initially Performance Rating was used but that very nearly caused a problem one year when different programs were producing different leaders!
I therefore decided to both obey Council and use the undisputed performance measure.
Following complaints I have reverted to the original method but specified the source to be used.
No method of tie break is satisfactory. Recent work has produced a very complicated formula which uses a variety of methods with a weighting attached to each. It showed the best simple calculation was sum of progressives, a method dismissed by FIDE. (I'm not going into details but the research involved looking at ties after 7 rounds and comparing the results of various methods with the actual results after 9 rounds.)
The Senior definition has been changing. In Scotland it was originally 50 but Council felt that it should be increased. The intended figure was 60. The age was increased in stages to 55 at which point FIDE also used this so I stopped increasing it.
There is nothing in the FIDE statutes which states that any age is mandatory. Indeed one event has defined Senior as 50-64! At 65 you become Veteran only.
Until FIDE sorts out the mess it seems to be getting itself into with Senior/Veteran it seems simpler to wait and see (ie stick with the current) and then decide if change should be made. This is what I intend to do.
If you look carefully at the entry form I have defined Senior for the Scottish but it has not been done for the Commonwealth (though there is an implication that it is the same). This was deliberate.
Just as it is seen by some that being registered with FIDE as SCO does not mean that you are automatically Scottish, being 50 does not mean that you are automatically a Senior in every event. For the British Senior title you must be considerably older!!!
I hope this clarifies things.