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updated 21.7.09
ECF GRADING

21.7.09
2009 GRADES ARE DELAYED
(with a Note on Junior Grades)
We reproduce an announcement which appeared today, under the heading Grading Lists and Printouts, on the ECF website.

It was reported at the April Council Meeting that the grading team wished to do further work on the best way to incorporate junior players into the grading system. As a result of this work the method of calculation of junior grades has been changed to give more weight to more recent results, rather than relying on the junior increment to make an appropriate allowance for the player's improvement. As a consequence, the new style adult grades for 2008 published last August will be subject to minor change before they are used in the 2009 calculation. The revised 2008 new style grades will be published as previous year's grade in the 2009 list.
      The commitment given to Council in April, that the published 2009 grading list will have a distribution of adult grades roughly identical to that on the list available at the time, still applies and will be met.
      Unfortunately doubt has arisen about the correctness (after several alterations) of the computer program used to calculate the grades. There will therefore be a delay in publication of the draft 2009 grading list. This is now expected to appear not later than 10th August, with Direct Members' printouts being distributed shortly after publication. It is still intended that a revised list incorporating corrections of reported errors, and upon which the printed list will be based, will appear at the end of August.
David Thomas
ECF Manager of Grading and Rating

rjh note: You may have difficulty locating this announcement on the ECF site. It appeared briefly on the front page before disappearing into an archive. We hope it will be restored to prominence.


5.9.08
ECF PRINTED LIST 2008
is shipping now. Price £23.50 from the ECF Office. Hurry while stocks last!
     To be realistic it will be a while before the print run of 150 is exhausted. The printed list, as we said last year, exists on suffrance. Long may it survive. It cannot compete with the detail on the ECF website, but it does include one little set of statistics which has never found its way there. The four years shown here are broadly comparable in that they represent the period since Junior Game Fee was introduced in September 2004. It is curious that, while the slow decline in active players has continued, the decline in halfgames played has been reversed and the figure has hit a new high.



Halfgames graded
Players active
Players published 		2005
272457
  16426
  12237 		2006
270605
  15650
  11873 		2007
270555
  15384
  11823 		2008
275711
  15274
  11766

STANDARD
Halfgames graded
Players active
Players published
A grades
B grades
C grades
D grades
E grades
208369
  13810
  10608 (114)
    1859 (129)
    1558 (121)
    2473 (115)
    2606 (105)
    2112 (  97)
201539
  13089
  10383 (113)
    1799 (129)
    1600 (120)
    2422 (115)
    2637 (106)
    1925 (  97)
207964
  12955
  10371 (112)
    1902 (126)
    1635 (118)
    2382 (114)
    2595 (105)
    1857 (  97)
208796
  12720
  10262 (111)
    1912 (127)
    1647 (116)
    2449 (112)
    2434 (106)
    1820 (  96)

RAPID
Halfgames graded
Players active
Players published
X grades
A grades
B grades
C grades
D grades
E grades
  64088
    5483
    3677 (  72)

      418 (  86)
      232 (  89)
      525 (  95)
    1451 (  73)
    1051 (  67)
  69066
    5627
    3573 (  72)

      477 (  84)
      233 (  99)
      458 (103)
    1211 (  80)
    1194 (  50)
  62581
    5617
    3545 (  72)
        91 (  88)
      274 (  87)
      221 (  98)
      416 (106)
    1119 (  86)
    1424 (  41)
  66915
    5826
    3747 (  72)
      109 (  87)
      284 (  86)
      221 (  96)
      431 (104)
    1297 (  89)
    1405 (  39)

Figures in brackets are mean grades. "Players active" are players with at least one graded game in the most recent season.
Standardplay games by Juniors: 25,158. Rapidplay: 38,071 or more than half of the total.


NEW GRADES
What's not in the printed list is the New Grades. If you don't know what these are, have a look at the Explanation on the ECF site. Have a look at it anyway, because some things are explained there for the first time. The system has been overhauled to correct distortions which have crept in over the years. Grades have changed! The new currency will be official in 2009-10, and 2008 New Grades are published now on the website to show what the changes will look like.
     There has been quite a lot of comment on the ECF Forum.

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