Soroton ... 2010 ... Flashback - Part 1

Ratings is the KPI or Key Performance Index for chess players. So, let's see about it.

For chess, there are two ratings that a Malaysian chess player can earn or obtain. A FIDE rating obtained when playing against opponents who have one in a FIDE-rated tournament. And a National rating or MCF rating earned when participated in a nationally-rated chess tournaments.

Based on the latest FIDE ratings as per here, in the Men's category, IM Mas is still the top Malaysian chess player with 2418. He had 9 games in the last two months. In fact, he is the only one who has 2400 ratings. IM Mok is in second place with 4 points short of the same ratings division. As far as GiLoCatur observes, there is no junior player among the top 10. NM Edward Lee is at 17th place while NJM Eng Chiam is at 20th place. Malaysian best chess future, Li Tian, is at 23rd place. It is a challenge in the year 2011 for all the junior players to climb up the ladder to be among the best Malaysian chess players.

How about the women section? As shown in the following chart, experienced and matured Wahiduddin sisters, Nurul Huda and Khairunnisa, are among the top three. No one has 2000+ ratings. The Malaysian top woman chess player has only 1977 ratings. So, isn't it a good target or objective to have more players that have 2000+ FIDE ratings? Contrary to the men category, the Malaysian women chess are dominated by the juniors. It is GOOD! isn't it? In fact, in the year 2010 Malaysian several women players had achieved chess titles. In the Chess Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk, three of the five team members earned 1 WFM and 2 WCMs. The Azman sisters - Nabila and Najiha, earned their respective WCM and WFM titles in the ASEAN age group held in Vietnam.

The majority of the Malaysian women players in the below list earned their FIDE ratings in the year 2010. So, how about the others like Sarika, Nur Farihah, Teh De Zen, Latifah Syamimi, Anis Fariha, and the Sabirin sisters, just to name a few? Have they plan and target to get the FIDE ratings this year? What MCF can do to assist and motivate our women and girls chess players? Has MCF put "to increase Malaysian chess players in the FIDE list" in its agenda? Surely, the parents like GiLoCatur would target and dream for their chess-playing kids to earn the FIDE ratings.

source : http://ratings.fide.com

As for GiLoCatur, the mission for Fikri to earn a FIDE rating had been achieved. He earned his FIDE rating in July from two tournaments - the Selangor Open and the National Closed Championship. But for the national ratings mission (as per stated in the right column of this blog), GiLoCatur and the kids did not achieve the target.

So, what are the missions and targets for GiLoCatur and the kids in the new 2011 year in terms of chess ratings?

• Fikri to reach 1750 FIDE ratings
• Anis to earn her FIDE ratings
• Fikri to surpass 1650 MCF ratings
• Anis to surpass 1500 MCF ratings
• Fahim to reach 1300 MCF ratings
• GiLoCatur to reach 1300 MCF ratings

How about you?

To all Malaysian chess fraternity - MCF, chess officials, chess players, chess fans, parents, and chess coaches, let's get united and play our respective role in developing, promoting and popularizing CHESS in our beloved country. GiLoCatur hopes MCF will plan and implement a mechanism and programs to encourage and motivate more players to get FIDE ratings as well as to improve the ratings for those who already have. An incentive like giving recognition certificate is an example. GiLoCatur also hopes that all its major chess tournaments like the National Close Championship, the National Age Group, and the National Junior Chess Championship will be both nationally-rated and FIDE-rated.

What is A Chess Rating?

For most active chess players they already know and understand what a chess rating is. But many especially the parents whose children just started participating in chess tournaments do not really know what a chess rating is and understand how it is derived or calculated. So, basically today GiLoCatur wants to share the knowledge with them.

Understanding Chess Ratings

By Edward Scimia

When talking about chess, you might hear statements such as "I'm a 1600 player," or "we're playing in the under 2000 section." These numbers being thrown around are called chess ratings, and are an important part of the chess community.

What is a Rating?

Ratings are numbers used to represent the playing strength of chess players. Most rating systems are based on the work of Arpad Elo, and are known as Elo rating systems.

The internal workings of chess rating systems can be quite complex, but the basics are simple. Ratings are based on the results of of games between players -- usually, games played in chess tournaments. If a player wins games, his rating will increase; if he loses games, his rating will decrease.

The rating of a player's opponents also effect how that player's rating will change. Defeating a much lower-rated opponent will cause a gain of few (if any) rating points, while defeating a much higher-rated foe will earn a large number of rating points. Losses work the game way, though in the opposite direction; losing to a much stronger player won't effect a player's rating much, but losing to a weaker opponent will cost quite a few points. Draws also effect ratings in a similar manner (drawing a higher-rated player increases ones rating, while drawing a lower-rated player decreases it), though not as dramatically.

Over time, a player's rating should approximate their skill level, allowing players to compare themselves to their peers. As a player improves, their rating will tend to rise.

What do Chess Ratings Mean?

Ratings vary depending on who is issuing them. In terms of United States Chess Federation (or USCF) ratings, a complete beginner who has just learned the rules of chess would likely earn the minimum rating of 100. The average scholastic tournament player has a rating of around 600. A "strong" non-tournament player, or a beginning tournament player that has gained some basic experience might have a rating around 800 or 1000.

The average adult tournament player in the USCF is rated around 1400. Very strong adult tournament competitors -- the top 10% or so of that group -- are rated over 1900.

(Since the latest GiLoCatur's (July 2009) national rating is 1143, it means that GiLoCatur is still a below average chess player. Thus, GiLocatur will work hard to achieve a rating of about 1400 so that GiLoCatur can become a better chess player. So, it is GiLoCatur's next target or mission then.)

Prestigious titles are available to the strongest players. These titles are usually award partially or entirely based on ratings. Experts are players with ratings over 2000. Masters are players with ratings over 2200. Earning the International Master or Grandmaster title requires more than just a high rating, but these players are typically rated over 2400 and 2500, respectively. The best players in the world are rated over 2700; the highest rating ever achieved was 2851, by former World Champion Garry Kasparov.

How do Players Earn Ratings?

A chess rating can be earned in a variety of ways. Online chess sites often offer their own ratings, which are useful for finding appropriate opponents while playing online. Some chess clubs also keep their own informal ratings.

When most people speak of chess ratings, however, they are speaking of ratings assigned by a national chess federation (or by FIDE, the International Chess Federation). These ratings are earned by playing in sanctioned tournaments. After each tournament, the results are sent to the federation rating the event, where they are processed and used to update the ratings of the competitors.

(The sad part in our local chess tournaments is that not many are national-rated ones. For a chess tournament to be a national-rated event, the organizer has to pay a fee and submitted to the authorized ratings officer which is Mr IA (International Arbiter) Lim Tse-Pin. The tournament also needs to fulfill certain criteria like enough minimum percentage of rated players.)

Source : http://chess.about.com/od/chesscommunities/qt/Ratings.htm

For Malaysia, basically we have our own national rating. Normally, the national ratings is maintained by the authorized ratings officer. It will be calculated every quarterly or three months. The latest one is July 2009. Go to this link to check on the national rating or you can download it in MS excel format here.

MMU Melaka Chess Open - BUKAN FIDE-rated tournament!

GiLoCatur memohon maaf kerana tersalah maklumat berkenaan MMU Melaka Chess Open. Sebenarnya, tournament tersebut bukanlah FIDE-rated event. Sememangnya di Malaysia tidak banyak FIDE-rated tournament. Menurut Encik Abdul Latif, di antara beberapa syarat utama untuk pertandingan FIDE-rated  adalah :

• 30% peserta mestilah pemain-pemain yang ada FIDE rating
  

• bayar yuran sebanyak 400 USD, hampir RM 1,500
  

Pada pandangan GiLoCatur, memang syarat-syarat di atas agak berat bagi kebanyakan pengajur chess tournament di negara ini kerana selalunya bajet yang kecil.

Berkenaan dengan syarat-syarat (requirement) nak mendapatkan FIDE rating yang selama ini GiLoCatur pun masih kurang jelas, berikut adalah kaedahnya.

• Perlu berlawan dengan 9 pemain yang ada FIDE-rating.
  

• 9 permainan tersebut dibahagikan kepada 3 kumpulan yakni 3 permainan untuk setiap kumpulan (grouping). 
  

• Setiap permainan rated tersebut tak kan ada maknanya jika sekurang-kurangnya 1 point diperolehi dari 3 permainan kumpulan pertama, 1/2 point diperolehi dari 3 permainan kumpulan kedua dan 1/2 point dari 3 permainan kumpulan ketiga.
  

Contoh:

1) Katakan GiLoCatur bermain di dua kejohanan catur bertaraf FIDE-rated. Dalam kejohanan pertama GiLoCatur tak bertemu lansung pun dengan pemain FIDE-rated. Jadi tak ada norm pun yang GiLoCatur dapat. Kemudian dalam kejohanan kedua, GiLoCatur dapat lawan 4 orang pemain yang ada FIDE rating, tapi hanya dapat 1/2 point daripada ke empat-empat permainan tersebut. GiLoCatur masih tak dapat norm lagi sebab perlukan sekurang-kurangnya 1 point untuk 3 permainan kumpulan pertama. Point lawan pemain-pemain yang tak ada FIDE rating tak kira.

2) Kemudian GiLoCatur bermain dalam kejohanan bertaraf FIDE berikutnya. Dalam kejohanan tersebut GiLoCatur bertemu dengan 5 orang pemain yang ada FIDE rating. Dapat 1 1/2 point pula dari 5 permainan tersebut. Baru GiLoCatur dapat norm rating. GiLoCatur hanya perlukan 4 FIDE-rated games lagi dan score 1/2 point untuk lengkapkan norm dan dapat rating FIDE.

3) Atau katakan GiLoCatur sertai satu kejohanan FIDE-rated. Dalam kejohanan tersebut GiLoCatur lawan 9 orang pemain yang ada FIDE rating dan score 2 point. Ini bermakna GiLoCatur dah cukup norm untuk dapat FIDE rating sebab 1 + 1/2 + 1/2 = 2.

Begitulah lebih kurang macam mana nak dapatkan FIDE rating. Ada faham ke? hehehe Harap tidak confuse.

So, sekarang bila dah faham macam mana nak dapat norm FIDE rating, bolehlah GiLoCatur merancang untuk dapatkan FIDE rating untuk anak-anak. Semoga anak-anak GiLoCatur berjaya dapat FIDE-rating dalam jangkamasa DUA tahun. Wish me and my children luck!