Ratings = Self Fulfilling Prophecy?
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Apr 27, 2008
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#2
since before playing someone i usually check their game archive i would find out their rating anyway.
I know ratings reflect the skill of a player (especially if they have played a lot of games), but to what extent does a person's rating influence the way they play?
For example, does a person play worse against a higher rated opponent, just by virtue of "knowing" the other person's rating is higher (and their own is lower)?
Testing this potential bias issue would be easy with chess.com. They could simply create two tournaments, one with ratings that are visible, and one with "blank" ratings (or maybe random numbers?). The two tournaments would have to be similiar samples, which would be a bit difficult, but if there are enough people this could work.
What do you think?