what's elo and what does it stand for
Elo is just a rating system to calculate the relative skill level of players in games. The words Elo and Rating can be used interchangeably in chess.
Electric Light Orchestra - they were a popular band 50 years ago. The chess world decided to pay tribute to them and adopted elo as a way to measure performance.
It is basically the word for the rating system, that came from its inventor Arpad Elo. Read the link @tygxc has given you if you wish to know more.
My limited experience with ELO is that for most players it is meaningless. For the elite (anyone above ELO 1000) it is nice. But around the 100-600 mark where most people will spend their life. ELO is just a crap shoot. Win 1 or 2 matches and ELO goes up by a lot, loose a few matches and ELO is halved.
elo is a rating system which chess often uses. Arpad Elo is its inventor and where the system name comes from. It should be noted that other rating systems also exist with subtle differences (such as the k-factor variable in determining rating changes for less active accounts) as chess.com technically uses glicko rating system and not elo. The difference is negligible, so if you say elo chess.com rating, people still understand what you mean to say (even though technically incorrect).
Although some math nuances may vary, the concept of any rating system is the same. It is a measure of a player's estimated chess level based on past performance. Ratings are an estimate and always will be. It is NOT the same as chess knowledge or chess ability even though higher rated players tend to be more knowledgeable and of greater chess ability on average.
It doesn't "stand for" anything.
Elo is not an abbreviation. It's a person's name.
Arpad Elo. He invented the Elo rating system.
When people say "elo" most of the time they simply mean "rating" even if that rating is not technically an elo rating. Elo kind of became a generic term for all types of ratings used in chess. A bit like generic trademarks (Kleenex, Aspirin, etc).
Elo kind of became a generic term for all types of ratings used in chess. A bit like generic trademarks (Kleenex, Aspirin, etc).
That happens a lot, yes.
Toilets are sometimes referred-to as "crappers" in English-speaking countries.
thebeststalemater
It doesn't really stand for anything because it was named after Arpad Elo, but if it did it might stand for Estimation of level of Opposition.
It means rating. Not sure why people call it this, though.
Its named after the guy that invented it, Arpad Elo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Elo
Elo is the last name of the person who made the elo thing.
But I like to think of it as "evaluated level overall"
yeah.
