What is and what does "ELO" mean?

I often see people talking about something called "ELO", but I don't understand what it is... Is it your level in chess? Is it the number of how many games you have won? What is it for?

Thanks in advance.

It's the name of the guy who invented the rating system used in chess. His name was Arpad Elo.

The article posted by the admin justbefair pretty much explains it but i want to expand on the subject. On chess.com i noticed some tweaks to the elo system. For example you can create an account of 1600 elo and play your first matches with players of this calliber, but for balancing reasons if you lose your first, second , third match , you will lose about 150 elo per match instead of 8 which would be usual. This is to bring you to your real elo and not give away free wins to adversaries who could potentially be much better than you. Interestingly enough the moba video game Dota has an elo system also, and there too , the maximum elo a player can achieve is about 3000, just like in chess. Theoretically speaking if a elo system is perfectly balanced, a 1500 elo player could play against a chess grandmaster and after , say , 1000 games, the two players will have roughly the same elo, even if the lower rated player will win one from twenty if that's how the chances are calculated at that elo difference.

Thanks!

Oh woww

@5

Chess.com uses Glicko-2 instead of elo. It converges faster, but needs more calculations.
http://www.glicko.net/glicko/glicko2.pdf

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games like chess. Named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor, the system was originally developed as an improved chess rating system over the previously used Harkness system.

In the Elo system, each player has a rating, which is a number. A higher number indicates a stronger player. When a player competes in a game, their rating changes based on the outcome of the match and the rating of their opponent. Winning against a higher-rated player earns more points than winning against a lower-rated one. Conversely, losing to a lower-rated player results in a greater loss of points.

This system is used by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) and other chess organizations to rate players. It's widely respected for its ability to provide a clear, numerical representation of a player's chess skill level.

#2 and #6 are correct but to make things extra confusing, due to a longstanding misunderstanding in online gaming communities, Matchmaking Rating, MMR, is often referred to as ELO (pronounced E-L-O), regardless of the underlying system.

It's also the acronym of a third-rate rock band that was popular back in the 70s, Electric Light Orchestra. Rumor has it that they're recording, but I can't imagine why.......

https://www.noise11.com/news/jeff-lynnes-elo-to-play-first-show-since-2019-in-san-diego-in-november-20231017

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA ROCK BAND GEOFF LYNE

Thanks y'all !!