Are the most active players posted anywhere?
Be nice to get them by state like some of the other nice reports out there now!
State Played in - Reg/Quick/Both …
Those lists were discontinued quite some time ago. Would you settle for a list of TDs with lapsed TD certifications?
At several recent board meetings this idea has been presented. The old lists in Chess Life and the Yearbook had most active players and most active TDs. When we convince the editor that there are people out there clamoring to see these lists again, they might reappear.
Mike
I’m not sure why we would need to convince the editor that there are people interested in seeing this, as this is something that would be perfect for the website as this type of content is dynamic, not static. CL print-edition is a two-month lead time and not suited for this type of information.
This would be great to have where the list is auto-updated perhaps every Monday morning. Perhaps do it like the FIDE rating list of ‘who was the most active the most number of times’ or list the top 10 most active ones, etc. A lot of options to bring spot light to players, TD’s, and affiliates.
I think that would get more people interested in using the website as a vehicle of information dissemination.
I’m not sure there is any need to convince the editor. The EB or delegates can require it.
As for most active TDs, there is more than one way to rank them. It could be by number of tournaments, number of sections, or number of games directed. You might even get 3 different leaders. It might also depend on if one needs to be chief for the tournament to count.
While the delegates could certainly mandate this for Chess Life, for the EB to do it and tell the Editor of Chess Life what columns to run feels like micromanagement, at least to me. Sounds like an ADM for the Annual Yearbook issue?
It is something better and easier to appear on the website, be easily updated each month. When these lists appeared many years ago, the TD list had several different categories: Most sections/events and most players. Being Chief TD of a 200 player event got more players than running 20 quads while the 20 different quads got more tournaments, etc. The auto-update mentioned by Sevan would be good, perhaps for monthly winners, etc.
Mike
I tend to agree that this is probably not a great use of scarce print space, in addition to the time lag problem.
I’m not sure what is meant by ‘state played in’. We have the state from the member’s mailing address, but the member may not have played all of his games in that state (or any of them!) We generally would have the state the event was held in, but for USCF rated online games that’s where the affiliate (such as WCL) is located, not where the players are.
The challenge on ‘top lists’ is always defining the categories and the rules for them. For example, do games in matches count or not? What about games in foreign FIDE rated events?
FWIW, so far in calendar 2010, Jay Bonin has the most regular rated games, 564, but Hosein Ameri (544) and Joel Johnson (512) aren’t far behind. Quite a few of Hosein Ameri’s games have been against the same opponent.
Bruce Davis has 847 quick rated games so far in 2010 (that would include games from dual-rated events, which are both regular and quick rated.) Ameri and Johnson would be in the top ten on that list as well, so most of their games are probably dual-rated.
You’re kidding!?.
Does Jay have a “hobby” when he isn’t playing chess? He seems to be the most active player in the history of US chess.
It would be interesting to see who, in each state, has played the most since 1991. Maybe it would promote further tournament activity in many states. And would be a way to determine the “lifetime victory points” idea the EB has set forth.
Wow. That’s an average of 10.8 rated games per week.
I guess you can do that when you live in New York City.
Not really, because victory points are based not only on how many games you have won but the rating of your opponent and the time control of the game.
You can infer some information about lifetime victory points using the game statistics page now.
For example, Jay has 613 ‘lifetime’ wins against 1800-1899 players (actually, wins since late 1991.)
However, wins against an 1800 player earn 2 victory points and wins against an 1801-1899 player earn 4 victory points.
Also, only games played at a time control slower than Game/60 earn victory points. We don’t really know which of those 613 wins were at time controls slower than Game/60, for multiple reasons depending upon how long ago the game was played. (And as I noted the other day, ‘regular rated only’ games MIGHT be at time controls such as G/30 + 20 seconds delay, so are those ‘slower than Game/60’ or not?)
I guess as you get older it’s only natural to slow down the pace somewhat.
Regular rated games by Jay Bonin since 1992:
[code]year count
1992 400
1993 397
1994 460
1995 550
1996 482
1997 468
1998 412
1999 417
2000 453
2001 486
2002 645
2003 716
2004 678
2005 595
2006 625
2007 624
2008 518
2009 533
2010 568
[/code]
Is Jay the first person to reach the 10,000 game level? That in itself ought to be rewarded somehow.
We don’t generate milestone records for the number of games played, just for the number of wins.
However, there is nobody else with even 3000 regular rated wins. though there are several with over 2500 regular rated wins. I don’t expect Jay’s 6000+ wins record to fall any time soon.
The late Robert Smeltzer was the only other player to have 7000 or more regular rated games since 1991. Boris Privman has over 5000 regular rated games, nobody else has that many, though there are quite a few players in the 4000’s.
Who in the world is the Editor to change decades-long traditions in recording Yearbook statistics?
That is not micromanaging. After so many years recorded in CHESS LIFE, an absence in the Yearbook is a radical policy change. There are policy issues that the EB should be overseeing, and has obviously dropped the ball here, and just as obviously fears to correct poor judgement by an employee, who is responsible directly to the EB.
I have commended our Editor for many fine accomplishments in the past. On this one policy issue involving records of membership activity, he is clearly wrong.
All the best, Joe
Not even close to the Late Great Robert Smeltzer, who set the record at 2,266 rated games for one year!!!
A record will probably stand a while.
Rob Jones
Sevan,
I believe the most active TD in terms of tournaments directed, according to
MSA, for 2010 is Mick Bighamian of California.
Rob Jones
Define ‘directed’. 
Is that number of unique event IDs as chief TD, number of sections as chief TD, number of sections as section chief, etc.
Is working as an assistant chief TD, assistant section chief, or just an additional TD an an event counted or not?
Do matches and ‘extra games’ sections count?
Should size (eg, number of players or number of rated games) be taken into account, or can someone direct 250 quads and be dubbed ‘most active’?
Remember, according to Mark Twain there are three classes of lies:
Lies
Damn Lies
Statistics
Very few care who is the most active tournament director. What is more interesting is to know who the most active adult and scholastic players are in each state. That should not be too hard to produce on a yearly basis. We can already see who the top 100 rated players are in each state.