Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina  Can someone explain how player ratings work? If I'm just starting out, do I have some minimal rating already? |
Your
Elo rating indicates your relative skill level within a reference group. If you play official tournaments, this reference group is the other members registered with the chess association that flags the tournament. If you play online, the reference group is all players registered at the site.
You usually start out at 1000 or 1200, but this does not matter because it takes only about 10 games before your rating is stable and at the "true" level. When you win you go up en when you lose you go down. It is a fixed formula that calculated your rating automatically.
Your rating is related to your percentile rank within the reference group, and reflects how likely you are to win from someone. For example, 1178 is at the 27th percentile, 1370 at the 56th percentile, 1720 at the 90th percentile, and 1978 at the 98th percentile. When you lose from an equal, you lose about 5 points, but when he is far below you you can lose much more, and vice versa. That is because it is an estimate. If you beat someone way better than your rating, you probably are not bad after all, so the rating is increased more than when you beat an equal.