Provisional Ratings

[Javaness2]

The EGF's rating system has no concept of provisional ratings - should this change? A player who enters the rating system may enter with a grade (and thus rating) which is wildly inaccurate, and can thus safely and wisely be changed after say 10 games. Sometimes a rating reset could do the same thing, but of course this only works in one direction, and it leaves intact the initial results.

Take this year's London Open, where a player called Tethys entered at 19kyu and won all their 6 games. They had no previous entry in the database, unless they previously played unbeknown to us all under another name. By the way, the grade of 19kyu was probably chosen for them by substracting 2 stones from their OGS grade. Given that they boosted their rating by over 400 points, it seems plausible that their entry grade could then be adjusted retrospectively.

[Uberdude]

By the way, the grade of 19kyu was probably chosen for them by substracting 2 stones from their OGS grade.

Well that was dumb. OGS ddk grades are quite different to KGS grades which is what that BGA advice is for. I'm somewhat surprised that happened as Kathy and Scott were hanging around with Jenny (the tournament director) a lot and I thought they played on OGS so would know. Or come and ask me and I would recommend an OGS 17k entering at 14k at least, if not a few higher.

Also I'm surprised Tethys went in to EGD as 19k: when their results show a new player is obviously misgraded I thought it was normal for their entry grade to be retroactively set to something more sensible. Though I don't know who does this: the TD or Geoff when submitting.

[Javaness2]

Mmm that is a bit off-topic. I think the BGA doesn't alter the ranks unless somebody has complained.