Hi. I'm just here to play chess. Trying not to be negative. I like this site. But if you can, please explain to me how I play a person with a 1372 rating, and I have 1269. I lost ( bigtime blunder of course) and his rating is increased by +130!!! I lost -3 points. I have beaten other players with ratings higher than mine and I never get even close to an increase of half that amount. I probably should just accept that this is how it is and get on with my life, but this is annoying.
It helps to understand what the rating is for.
The rating is to try to do a better job match making and pairing players with similar skills. If a 2200 player were constantly being matched against an 800, both would likely become frustrated and stop coming here.
Many people look at the rating as a badge of honor. Or of an absolute judgement of their ability. Neither is true.
I'm assuming you're talking about the last game that shows up when you look at your games. Look at your opponent.
This was his second game. The ? after his rating means it is provisional. He hasn't played nearly enough games to get a real rating yet.
The same thing happened to me. I won a few games in correspondence, and my rating shot up to over 2000. The highest player I've beaten was 1700-1800. I'm now getting my ass kicked. My correspondence rating is coming down slower than it shot up. This is probably a faster way of getting to my "true" rating than if it stayed low and it only slowly incremented. My philosophy is that I'd much rather play and lose to a stronger player because that's when I learn the most. I feel a little bad that some of my opponents are stuck playing me due to my inflated provisional rating, but not so bad that I'm not enjoying the games. :)
Does that make sense?
In addition, Glicko-2 scale (used at Lichess) deals with volatility/deviation, and this system is known as very quick to reach "right" rating. So you could be sure, that the truth comes very soon, for every member. "Very soon" means at least not later than in any other service using Elo- or Glicko- scales.
As for the calculations, strictly, ref: http://www.glicko.net/glicko/glicko2.pdf
For new accounts rating is temporary and change faster, until a more realistic rating is set. Then the "?" is removed after the rating.
You got +296 points for your win here:
https://lichess.org/yAFMvIzq/black
Adding on to @Yetch , the Glicko-2 rating system uses rating deviation and rating volatility to measure your rating's accuracy and instability, respectively. These are both used to calculate your rating change.
Rating deviation is essentially the standard deviation of your rating, so a higher number means that lichess isn't confident that your rating is accurate to your skill level. If your rating deviation is a higher number, than it means that your rating is subject to larger amounts of change. It increases over time if you don't play any games, and decreases after each game result. The lowest rating deviation on lichess is 45, and I'm assuming that @BillC_NJ this was your rating deviation. For reference, a rating deviation of 110 or greater means that your rating is provisional (has a ? next to it), while all lichess player start out with rating deviation 350. If your opponent's rating did not have a ? next to it, then I assume that their rating deviation was close to 110, but not greater than 110. This is why your rating changed by so little, and theirs so much.
Rating volatility doesn't affect your rating as much, and can take on the values of 0.05 and 0.06. Again, a higher number means that your rating is more unstable, meaning it will change by more (I think there's more to this but I've forgotten).
Your rating is calculated using your rating, rating deviation, rating volatility, your opponent's rating, their rating deviation, and their rating volatility. If your rating deviation is high, your rating will change by a lot. If your opponent's rating deviation is high, your rating will change by less. So in @BillC_NJ your case, your low rating deviation and your opponent's high rating deviation, along with the fact that your ratings are relatively close are all reasons for why your rating changed by only -3. Your opponent on the other hand had a high rating deviation, meaning that their rating is subject to larger amounts of change, explaining their large increase. If they were to lose a game right after your game, their rating would decrease by a large amount.
Additionally, a large rating deviation actually has a larger impact on your rating change than the rating difference between you and your opponent. I tested this in a hypothetical situation where a 600 rated player with RD (rating deviation) 350 beat a 3200 rated player with RD 45. The RD of 350 actually increased the 600 player's final rating more than the 2600 rating difference between the two players.
TL;DR: Rating deviation measures how confident lichess is that your rating matches your skill level. Your opponent's rating is unstable because their rating deviation is high, meaning that their rating is subject to large amounts of change. Meanwhile, your rating is stable because your rating deviation is low, meaning that your rating changes only by small amounts per game.
I hope everyone who replied to this thread will be notified when I reply. I just want to say thank you to all who took the time to explain the rating method. Yes, I know I should not get so hung up on it, especially at my level LOL :) Anyway, thanks again to all.
Regards,
Bill
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