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If you play or follow chess, chances are you have come across the term Elo rating. Simply put, it is a dynamic rating system used in chess to calculate the ability of players and compare them.

What is the Elo rating system

The Elo rating system is a mechanism devised by physicist and Hungarian-American chess player Arpad Elo to determine ratings for chess players.

Initially, the system was not based on an absolute score, but on the possible outcomes of the matches and the difference in the quality of the two players.

Later, the system was also used by other sports, including basketball. Incidentally, even the modern-day dating app Tinder used the rating system for a while.

Currently, FIDE, the governing body of chess, uses a variant of the Elo rating to give a score to players.

What system does the FIDE use?

The entire premise of the point system is based on the difference in quality between two players. The point mechanism, due to the nature of its mathematical calculations, favours lower-rated opponents since they are less likely to win over higher-rated opponents who will be favourite to win.

For example: If two players A and B, withEloratings of 2700 and 2300, respectively, face each other, the points offered for Bs win will be higher than what A will get for a win.

For those who love mathematics, the advantage for a lower-rated player is given on two grounds:

The first parameter

The first is the win probability. Since the win probability is lower for lower-rated players, the difference between an actual win (the outcome for which is 1) and the win probability is higher.

Example: In a contest between players A and B mentioned above, As probability to win is 0.92 while Bs probability to win is 0.08. This is arrived at using a complex formula based on rating difference, which in A and Bs case is 400. Hence, the rating change for Bs win will be 1 - 0.08 = 0.92

The second parameter

The second point of advantage for lower-rated players is the adjustment factor. The adjustment factor, also referred to as K-factor, is used to give an advantage to younger/newer players. The adjustment factor is multiplied by the rating change (calculated above) and added to the original rating. K-factor is usually 40 for a newly rated player who has played less than 30 rated games. The value of K-factor is taken as 20 for a player with a rating below 2400, while it is 10 for a player with a higher rating.

Continuing with the above example, the change in Bs rating after a win, assuming K as 20, will be 20 X 0.92 = 18.4. The change will, however, be rounded off to 18.

Whats more

Another key factor is that the rating system used by FIDE follows the zero-sum game theory. This means that the points gained by the winning player would mean an equal loss of points for the losing player. Hence, player A will lose 18 points in a loss to player B.

Importance of the rating system in chess

Elorating is used to determine the strength of chess players, and hence titles such as Grandmaster, International Master, and FIDE Master are awarded after players attain a certain level.

The rating system is devised in a way which prevents a single player from taking a substantial lead in terms of points. This is because the highest-rated player will have a higher win probability, and hence an actual win will yield fewer points.

In turn, a loss, or even a draw, to lower-rated opponent will lead to a bigger deduction of points, and eventually, reduce any significant advantage.

Players with the highestElorating

Magnus Carlsen holds the record for the highestElorating achieved at 2882. The Norwegian reached this level in 2014. Carlsen, currently, has a rating of 2864 and still on top.

Chess legend Garry Kasparov is the only other player to have crossed the 2850 mark. Indias chess icon Viswanathan Anand is among 14 players to have breached 2800. In the latest rankings released by FIDE in July 2022, only Carlsen and Chinas Ding Liren have a rating above 2800.

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Elo rating: How it works to assess chess results and player performance - Sportstar

Although not immediately obvious in the list of app available to ChessBase Account users, there is an app created and dedicated to teaching chess from scratch. This app does far more than just teach the moves, it also teaches fundamentals in positional play, tactics, and the endgame!

Link to Learn Chess beginner courses

The first page starts with the basics such as mastering the moves of the pieces

This is the first of three beginner courses. The first will start by teaching how all the pieces move, then will proceed to rules such as castling, stalemate, and even basic opening principles to avoid 'analysis paralysis' at the very start.

Here is a sample of the tutorial on castling. The diagram in the lesson is dynamic and you can move the pieces.

After you have reviewed the lesson, you will be able to test your understanding with some basic exercises. Above we can see a multiple choice question to verify the student's understanding of castling rules.

Very logically, the next phase of the course, aka Beginners Course II, shows how the pieces can work to create mating patterns both alone and in tandem with other pieces.

Once again, the course presents its concepts in a very gradual presentation, allowing the new student to become ever more familiar with the dynamics of the pieces.

The exercises are all dynamic, so you can actually play the solution on the board.

If you solve it correctly, you are congratulated and given a follow-up comment.

The final stage of the course really takes the student to the next level by providing ample tutorials on all the classic tactical motifs such as double attacks, pins, skewers, and more.

The lessons are presented with clear explanations and illustrations. The lesson explains:

"Those who understand the typical motifs of double attacks have a huge advantage among amateur players."

Oh, how so very true!

An example of the lesson on double attacks. Here we see the pawn fork, but there will be other forks and types of double attacks.

This introduction is quite thorough. Still, this last stage also does the student a service by providing them with a primer on the most basic endgame concepts such as mating with king and rook against king, opposition with the kings, and finally the rule of the square.

This beginner's course really does go far beyond just teaching the student the rules, it provides them with the tools to progress and defeat their nearest rivals as well as a taste of what lies down the rabbit hole.

Click here to subscribe to ChessBase Account and see the many other options it offers

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Learning to play chess with ChessBase - ChessBase

It's a pretty cushty week for ABBA's Benny and Bjrn (I mean, when isn't it a cushty week for them). The pair will have four separate live shows they've composed running simultaneously in London a Drury Lane concert performance of Chess, Mamma Mia! next door at the Novello, ABBA Voyage in its own custom auditorium and the immersive dining Mamma Mia! variant at the O2.

It's a testament to their almost faultless ability to deliver a banging tune. Setting aside the ABBA back-catalogue of the three other shows, Chess is laden with musical riches: "I Know Him So Well", "The Arbiter", "Pity the Child", "Anthem", "One Night in Bangkok", "Heaven Help My Heart", "Someone Else's Story" to name some.

That's what stuck with me as I hummed my way out of Drury Lane following Monday night's concert. Nick Winston, who previously gave Chess a pandemic-disrupted run in Japan, has delivered a slick, pared back version of the musical here letting the tunes do the talking. It's helped by some unobtrusive choreography, while Ben Cracknell's lighting shoots beams of light across Drury Lane, quickly evoking Cold War paranoia.

It's all a great way of side-stepping the glaring issues with the source material: given the lack of a satisfying book (Chess has had more revision thrown at it than my modern history GCSE exam did), the show has a tendency to veer wildly, at times rattling through story and other times alighting for multiple numbers on the same plot point. Tellingly, lyricist Tim Rice calls its Broadway opening a catastrophe in the Drury Lane programme. Characters are sketchily-drawn, with one-note backstories that can be wafer thin. It's one of the reasons the starry Coliseum run had something of a patchy critical reaction.

But those tunes! It'll be hard to forget Samantha Barks sending shivers (apt for the West End Elsa) down the spine with a blistering "Nobody's Side", while Hadley Fraser's "Anthem" was as clean cut and note-perfect as they come. Joel Harper-Jackson's dick-ish, drug-snorting Freddie sees the chess player imbued with a bolshy savagery (and the voice of an angel) while Frances Mayli McCann, returning to the venue after Bonnie and Clyde, duetted to perfection on "So Well". The concert is must-see watching for anyone with a free day today.

It's got me thinking. Over in New York, they have the "Encores" series a chance for stage stars and big names to give commercially unfriendly, vintage or forgotten work a second life. This has delivered some excellent musical revivals including the ongoing Into the Woods production lighting up Broadway. Maybe it's time that the UK doubled down on something similar. The LMTO, accompanying Chess here, seems perfectly placed to deliver that. Give the company a home (the Southbank Centre? Royal Albert Hall?), regular seasons, institutional support and away we could go.

In the meantime Chess is the opening salvo in a series of concerts including a new production of fan favourite Kinky Boots (probably too recently staged in the West End to justify a full return run) and new musical Treason, which looks like it hopes to follow in the footsteps of shows like Eugenius in building a following through semi-staged concerts before bagging a full production. These concerts are commercially safer gambles, with exhibitions of the best in stage talent while offering one-off gifts to audiences. What's not to like?

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Chess at Theatre Royal Drury Lane the beauty of staging the unstageable - WhatsOnStage.com

The emergence of India as a chess powerhouse, with 74 grandmasters and now the host of a grand World Chess Championship is a form of historical justice for a country that had invented, loved and propagated the game a few millennia ago. In this momentous time, its important to remind ourselves about the contributions of India to this beautiful game.

The mere mention of chess takes our imagination back to the most iconic scenes of Mahabharata, the apparently innocuous game of dice which would lead to irreconcilable differences between brothers, the banishment of Pandavas from their kingdom, humiliation of Draupadi and ultimately a dharmic war. The evil, the foxy face of Shakuni, the sound of the dice, made out of his fathers bones rattling in his hands, his sweet words with devilish intent trapping little by little the Pandava brothers into poverty, shame and near destruction; are etched in the psyche of every Indian.

But the game of chess, originally called Chaturanga which literally means four limbed referring to ancient army divisions of infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry predates Mahabharata. It goes back to another epic, Ramayana. Mandodari, is one of the many queens of demon king Ravana. The queen, couldnt bear the sight of Ravana in a constant state of war, conflict and anger. She decided to pray to Lord Ganesha for a solution. Ganesha accedes to teach the game to Ravana and asks him to treat it as a real battlefield with pawns, elephants, soldiers, kings and plenty of strategy to distract him away from actual wars. With a little practice, it was Mandodari who started winning the game over Ravana. And yet the great war of Ramayana happened.

The south of India boasts of innumerable Shiva temples and has a unique place in chess history in the form of Sri Vallabha Nathar Temple, in the Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu. This 1000-2000 years old temple which has become famous for relieving the poisonous bites of rats and snakes is also known for the legendary story of king Vasudevan and his daughter Rajarajeswari, who was an incarnation of Goddess Parvathi. Rajarajeswari was adept in all arts and chess in particular. King Vasudevan, enamoured by his daughters prowess in the game, announced that he would give his daughters hand to whoever defeats her in the game of chess.

Legend has it that Shiva, Himself, disguised as a Siddha played the game won the game and shed his guise, giving darshan to everyone. Followed by a grand wedding with Rajarajeswari. The Lords victory in the chess game won him the title Chaturanga Vallaba Nathar based on the Tamil name for chess Chaturangam.

Another hint of this beautiful game is found in the rather neglected ruins of The Sadras Dutch Fort, a tourist destination between Chennai and Puducherry, which is a distorted name of the ancient town of Saduranga Pattinam situated 5Km away. Saduranga, as mentioned earlier, is one of many names attributed to Lord Shiva.

A knights tour, which is now a mathematical and programming lesson in every textbook, originates from the genius mind of Swami Vedanta Desika. Swami Vedanta Desika was a poet, philosopher and polyglot who was proficient in eight languages. His extensive collection of work includes, 120 books bringing out the very essence of the Vedas. Around 750 years ago he created a form of poetry called Chithra Bhandhana. This poetry form is composed of the movement of the knight on a chessboard using 64 squares, each square containing oneakshara.It was only in 1823 that the German Mathematician Von Warsdorf solved the problem of KnightsTour, 500 years after Swami Vedanta Desika, who had not only solved but had created beautiful poetry with it.

Chess not only indicates that India always celebrated cerebral capabilities but its also a sign of an advanced society. While most countries were rising out of barbarism, India had the luxury of time and the intellectual space for a sport that has stood the test of time. With the world chess championship coming to India, the games rising popularity and newfound success in the subcontinent should be seen not only as a game that is returning to its rightful home but also as a sign of a rising mind and consciousness of a nation.

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Chess and its Civilisational Connect with India - Organiser

Over the objections of three conservatives on the Anchorage Assembly, a mayoral veto was overridden on Monday, giving the Assembly the power to remove the mayor whenever it chooses, with the flimsiest of reasons.

Anchorage Ordinance 2022-60 gives the Assembly vast power, both overtly and implied, over the mayor, the ability to hold a knife over the mayors head by creating a pathway for the legislative body to remove him for what is a vaguely described breach of public trust. Their process for removing him makes the Assembly judge, jury, and prosecutor.

Assemblyman Randy Sulte argued against overriding the veto, saying that if recalls of mayors fail, and the Assembly acts to remove a mayor, then it would be the Assembly getting the breach of the public trust wrong.

I have concerns about us being judge and jury about what is breach of public trust. We may not be correct and the public may still trust that person and wish for that person to remain, even though we may feel otherwise, he said.

Assembly Vice Chair Chris Constant admitted in the meeting that the impetus for the ordinance was an incident that happened during a wild regular meeting of the Assembly in October, when the public was up in arms over the Assemblys latest mask mandate.

Many people ask Why did you start this project?' said Constant, the maker of the ordinance. The day that I decided this project was essential was the day in October when a member of the Administration attempted to turn off the public feed. The second thing they did at that meeting was to dismiss security. And the third thing they did at that meeting was told APD [police] to stand down. And I witnessed the staff of this Administration rallying people in an angry crowd.

The Monday meeting was a special meeting in a small room at City Hall, called only for the purpose of overriding the veto, and the meeting was just over a half an hour long. It was supposed to be broadcast live on YouTube, but the Assembly somehow cut the video feed, claimed technical difficulties and only posted a nearly unintelligible audio recording of the meeting instead, a breach of the public trust.

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Chess game continues: Assembly overrides mayor's veto, and can now figure out how to remove the mayor - Must Read Alaska