Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chess Ratings — Move Over Elo

Posted by timothy on from the checkmate-and-perhaps-match dept.

databuff writes "Less than 24 hours ago, Jeff Sonas, the creator of the Chessmetrics rating system, launched a competition to find a chess rating algorithm that performs better than the official Elo rating system. The competition requires entrants to build their rating systems based on the results of more than 65,000 historical chess games. Entrants then test their algorithms by predicting the results of another 7,809 games. Already three teams have managed create systems that make more accurate predictions than the official Elo approach. It's not a surprise that Elo has been outdone — after all, the system was invented half a century ago before we could easily crunch large amounts of historical data. However, it is a big surprise that Elo has been bettered so quickly!"

6 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Indeed by mooingyak · · Score: 5, Funny

    However, it is a big surprise that Elo has been bettered done so quickly!

    Absolutely. I can almost guarantee no one thought that Elo would have been bettered done so quickly.

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    1. Re:Indeed by Lord+Byron+II · · Score: 5, Funny

      Timothy is the bettered done editor of Slashdot!

    2. Re:Indeed by camperdave · · Score: 5, Funny

      ELO hasn't done all that well since the big hair rock days of the late 1970s/early 1980s, pretty much since the drummer left to join Black Sabbath. I'm surprised at the band's connection to chess.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. been bettered done THAT quickly??? by boneclinkz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Elo-L

  3. Less than 24 hours ago by LearnToSpell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Less than 24 hours ago, the readers of Slashdot launched a competition to find an editing algorithm that performs better than the official "editors" of the site. The competition requires entrants to build their comment systems based on the results of over 9,000 historical submissions. Entrants then test their algorithms by predicting the results of the next 7,809 dup^H^H^Hstories. Already three teams have managed to create systems that make more accurate predictions than the official /. approach. It's not a surprise that Timothy has been outdone -- after all, he was invented half a century ago before English had been standardized. However, it is no big surprise that Slashdot has been bettered done so quickly! The winner: Texas Instruments!

    --
    Haida Manga
  4. Re:how are victory margins relevant to chess? by thousandinone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is pretty ridiculous. Margin of victory? Is there a committee overseeing ethical treatment of chess pieces now? If I sacrifice everything but my King and a Bishop to checkmate you, why is that intrinsically a better strategy than sparing some of my pieces?

    There are definite merits to a sacrificial strategy- it's all about board control. Long as theres more than one or two legal moves available to your opponent, you can't really predict where he'll send his pieces. A queen in the middle of the board can cover a lot of distance and do some impressive maneuvers, but any given piece only occupies one spot. Control where your opponent moves, control the game. Not to mention that less pieces on the board gives you more options for where to move with your remaining pieces, and by allowing your pieces to be taken, you have a measure of control over where the free space on the board is.

    Indeed, given the rules of the game, I would say a strategy that goes to great lengths to preserve as many of ones own pieces as possible is flawed...