October ratings published
In readiness for the new season, the latest standard and rapidplay ratings lists are out. The following tournaments were rated in the standard list:
- City of Belfast
- Ulster Championship
- Summer Tournament
as well as various tournaments in the Republic of Ireland that UCU members have competed in (such as Malahide, Drogheda, the City of Dublin as well as the Irish Championship's various subsidiary events). The rapidplay list covers:
- Ulster Rapidplay Championship
- Alan Burns Grand Prix #4.
These ratings are the first to be calculated using the UCU's new "Sticko" rating algorithm (the name being a portmanteau of that of its inventor, Alec Stephenson, and those of the Glickman and Elo systems on which it is based); this past month the UCU Ratings Committee, after lengthy deliberations, proposed a form of this system which has been implemented for this and future lists. More details can be seen on the UCU Ratings sub-site (login required); in summary, the aim is to remedy issues with the previous Glickman system such as deflation and a lack of volatility.
The new ratings can be seen on the membership list; alongside the official lists, sample lists are also available showing the other systems the Ratings Committee considered; a tweaked version of the previous Glickman system as well as Elo and a Sticko list calculated over the entire UCU dataset, going back to 2004. Club-by-club lists are also available;
