New or inactive players have larger ratings adjustments.
It's basically the main difference between Elo ratings and the Glicko system used here.
Only get 9 points when beating a higher rated player and 6 or 4 against a similar or lower rated pla
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I think it has something to do with your Glicko RD (not sure if it is spelled like that). The more you play the lower it gets. I believe it is used to estimate how accurate your rating is... so if it was 0 it would mean your rating is 100% accurate. I think it influences the amount of points you gain or lose after a match.
That would be why you are gaining less points, because your RD went down.
That would be why you are gaining less points, because your RD went down.
It means that two players of similar skill will get different scores win or loose based on activity. So if we have the exact same rating, i get 20 points because i have not played for a while, and the other person only gets 9 because he played yesterday. Not really fair. Your rating is your rating, even if you have logged out for a while or played alot lately. If i am a little rusty because i have had a layoff then i should be reminded of it, sure, but i should also be able to get back to where i was without playing 10 games.
Jan 16, 2019
0
#5
The reasoning is that new ratings and inactive ratings are considered unreliable and so they fluctuate more.
Jan 16, 2019
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#6
By the way, Glicko rating system is not only used by chess.com, but other places too. It was made by a respected mathematician, so it's not just random.
It also means that i risk loosing more points for being inactive because i face someone who has played everyday for a week. Should it not be the other way around?
In any case, i guess it can make sense but it was very confusing when i noticed it.
Jan 16, 2019
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#9
You risk losing more points, sure, but there's also a greater chance of gaining more points quickly. If you're inactive for a while (it'll take more than a week for a significant change to your RD), then you may have gotten much worse or much better during the time gone (did you forego all chess activities while you were gone, or were you studying and playing in-person a lot?), and chess.com has no way of knowing which it could be. Thus, your rating will fluctuate more (and your opponent's will fluctuate less) until the system is more certain about your rating.
This system is also designed to protect you from other people's low RD values. Why should you lose a bunch of points for losing to someone who is rated lower than you, but has studied a lot since they were last active and is actually much better than you?
You say earlier up that "your rating is your rating," but the thing is, a rating is only an estimate of your actual playing ability. And if that estimate is wrong because you've been gone for a long time, then why shouldn't your rating have bigger changes until the estimated rating is much closer to your actual playing strength?
Jan 16, 2019
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#10
"It also means that i risk loosing more points for being inactive because i face someone who has played everyday for a week. Should it not be the other way around?"
But you also GAIN more points for a win if you've been inactive.
Take my own case. I got hired by the Canadian Army to help restructure their training methods, so I went off to their Combined Arms Tactics School and stopped playing chess for two years. By the time my contract ended, my Glicko RD was over 200 (that's very, very high) so a loss would have cost me more than 100 rating points for losing a single game! But also vice-versa... as it turned out, I won my first two games (against an opponent near 2200 rating) after I started playing again, so I ended up gaining over 160 rating points for winning two games.
And no, it shouldn't be the other way around. The idea of the Glicko RD mechanics is not to protect your old rating, but to determine your new rating as quickly and accurately as possible. If you've been inactive for a while, your actual playing strength has likely changed (either up or down) so the Glicko RD mechanics allow large rating swings up or down to quickly "home in" on your actual new playing strength.
I used to get more then this. What happened?