A better idea is to use CURRENT ratings. Really, how many people take the old horse and buggy to work any more?? But, with current ratings, common sense is needed. If for example, a player earned a provisional rating of say 850 in a U400 section with 4 games, I would for
his next tournament, bump him up to the U600 or U700 section, as it is illogical to use a provisional 850 rating when the player has not defeated anyone close to that level. Yes, for the purists, we do publish that current ratings at sole chief td discretion will be used for pairing
and section assignment purposes. I do believe it is surely the way to fly.
Yes, the K factor uses both the ‘effective number of games’ and the number of games played in the current event. But since ‘effective number of games’ is NOT a function of the number of games played, but of the player’s pre-event rating, the number of games previously played is not a major factor in determining K, except as a cap on the number of effective games.
Thanks for bring up a non-related issue again, Rob.
Actually, I believe it may be more accurate to say that the maximum effective number of games played is a function solely of the player’s pre-event rating. The value of N’ used to determine the player’s K factor may be lower than that maximum if the player has played fewer rated games. In all cases, the maximum possible effective number of games is 50.
As I recall, n* (effective games) is almost always smaller than n’ (pre-event number of games) for provisionally rated players rated under about 1800, and that’s a large percentage of active players, especially youth, and virtually all players still eligible to play in an RBO.