The Elo ratings can be interpreted in two basic ways. These are described in simple terms below. The more technical pages should make it clear why these interpretations have at least some statistical basis!
Note that for these interpretations to be at all accurate, people have to play in quite a few tournaments, say at least three.
1) Probability of winning interpretation:
The theory behind the Elo method implies that, reversing the table used to actually calculate the ratings, we should be able to interpret the difference in ratings between two players or between a player and his/her average opposition in a tournament as follows:
Rating difference:
Expected % of TPs scored:
(Elo points)
Higher rated player
Lower rated player
0
50%
50%
50
54%
46%
100
57%
43%
150
60%
40%
200
64%
36%
250
67%
33%
300
70%
30%
400
76%
24%
500
81%
19%
600
86%
14%
700
89%
11%
800
92%
8%
1200
98.3%
1.7%
1600
99.8%
0.2%
It should be noted that if a player scores more TPs than expected according to this table, their rating should rise and vice versa.
Given the effect of the luck factor and the (non-1/0) TP formula, it should not be surprising that virtually all players with established ratings are within 400 points of each other.
2) Class of player interpretation:
The "Class Interval" chosen for Tantrix is 400 points - this compares to 200 points for chess. The interpretation is that players within 400 rating points of each other should be reasonably evenly matched - a player rated R having a good day being likely to play better than a player rated R+400 having a bad day.
Of course, the luck factor in Tantrix means that most reasonably experienced players are evenly matched in the chess sense (i.e. able to have a good game where the result is not a totally foregone conclusion) and hence virtually all players with established ratings fall into the 1600-2000 point band. However, so we can attempt to assign descriptions to each interval of 100 points as follows:
1950-2000+: Tournament Grand Masters (2000 is the amateur/professional cut-off in chess)
1900-1950 : The top non-TGMs in the world likely to be challenging strongly for the WTC
1800-1900 : Very strong players still in with a good chance in the WTC
1700-1800 : Strong players possibly capable of a top three place in a national championship
1600-1700 : Good, experienced players, never easy opponents for even the very top players
1500-1600 : Competent players with some grasp of strategy
Under1500 : New and improving players
By the way, the wider class interval for Tantrix arises because the tournament point system makes scores less extreme than in chess but in simple terms can be seen as reflecting the fact that the luck element makes players much more evenly matched in Tantrix anyway.
Further information:
The following links contain even more information - the less technical notes are starred:
The date and time are :
Thursday, 02-Sep-2010 21:41:30 GMT
Thursday, 02-Sep-2010 22:41:30 BST (local)
This file was last modified on Monday, 10-Mar-2003 20:02:20 GMT