July 2020 Grading List Published

The July grades are out! The English Chess Federation has published its July 2020 List. The ECF publishes player grade lists twice a year, in January and July. See the ECF Grading Database to see how you’ve done.

How are chess grades calculated?

See the ECF Grading Database for full details. Basically, for each graded game, if you win, the grading is your opponent’s grade plus 40 points, for a draw it’s your opponent’s grade, and for a loss it’s opponent’s grade minus 40. If there is a grading difference greater than 40 between you and your opponent, the calculation cuts off at 40. That is, you can’t lose your way upwards by losing against grandmasters…

Then divide the points by number of games. If more than 30 games in the last 12 months, the system uses those results. If fewer than 30 games, then the most recent 30 games are used, going back further than the last 12 months, but not going back more than 36 months.

ECF grades have a number followed by a letter, from A to F. The letter is the Grade Category, indicating how many games, or how far back the calculation is based on. A is the most active, where the game results are all from the last 12 months.

The ECF definition of the Categories is as follows:

Category definitions:
A – Grade based on at least 30 games, all played in the latest 12 months
B – Grade based on the 30 most recent games, all played in the latest 24 months, including at least 20 in the latest 12 months
C – Grade based on the 30 most recent games in the latest 36 months, of which at least 10 were played in the latest 12 months
D – Grade based on 15 or more games in the latest 36 months, of which at least 5 were played in the latest 12 months
E – Grade based on 9 or more games in the latest 36 months, of which at least 1 was played in the latest 12 months
F – Grade based on 5 or more games in the latest 36 months, of which at least 1 was played in the latest 12 months. F grades are published in the usual way, but unlike higher categories they are not used in future calculations. A “starting grade” is used instead

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