Thursday, October 15, 2015

MCF Chess Rating: OCT 2015 Official Release

In October 2015 release, there are 22,613 chess players. An increased from 21,687 chess players in July 2015. Of which there is more than 21,000 Malaysians in our chess rating database. A unique MCF Chess Rating ID contains 9-Alphanumeric ID was introduced in the October 2013 edition. Please refer to here for more info.
  
Please remember your MCF Chess Rating ID to facilitate registration process of National-rated Events and insist on the Event Organisers to key-in your MCF Chess Rating ID into IDNo column of the Swiss Manager file to avoid any rating discrepancies.


This list was done up after spending 24,000 minutes (equal to 400 hours) in following steps:- (1) players' name synchronization between tournament file and rating database, (2) ratings check on each player in each tournament file, (3) re-edit result on unplayed games but key in as played games by Event Arbiters, (4) ratings calculation of each player (more than 3400 of them), (5) manual assignment of K-factor to each player based on individual rating bands, (6) players' rating tabulation, (7) compilation of multiple entries of a player into one single unique entry (2375 of them in this quarter) aka Pre-Release Rating document, (8) insert 2375 new/revised ratings into Master database (21,687 as of July 2015 release), and finally (9) the extraction process into October Rating release document. All these were done in the last 65 days i.e. 5 hours daily for first 50 days, followed by 10 hours daily in the last 15 days. Usually, it takes around 300hrs (45days) for the whole rating tabulation with the exception of October release due to Malaysian Chess Festival events.
 
For the past 12 years, I've been doing this MCF Chess Ratings to give a better gauging system for the development of Malaysian Chess especially among the Juniors below aged 12. It took 6 years of education (2004 - 2009) for the chess community to realize the importance of chess ratings for self-development purpose. Things began to change for the better in 2010 where more tournaments were submitted for national ratings. At first I was happy with the change but it didn't last too long. In 2011, little did I realize this 'baby' that I started from scratch in 2002 (Yup... 2 years before it was adopted by MCF and changed name to MCF Chess Ratings) had turned into a little monster that haunted me 4 times in a year.
 
Usually, I'll start doing this horrendous national rating calculation work either in the morning before my day-to-day primary job that starts from early afternoon till night or after I come back from work. As for the last 15days prior to the new rating release (on 15th day of each new quarter), I went through sleepless nights because it is 5 hrs before going to work (for 9hrs) and another 5 hrs after coming back from work. That's 19hrs of work in a day! This cycle of nightmare happens 4 times in a year that affect 180 60 days of my life every year. A tremendous health hazard that I don't welcome at my age in order to live few extra years in this world. 
 
It's time for me to pass this baton to people who are much younger (preferably aged between 20 to 35) who can stay up until 3am and sleep for 3hrs before starting a new day. Please send an email to tsepin@gmail.com if you are interested in this job.
 
In addition to the National Ratings, the time that I have spent on rectifying tournament files before submitting to FIDE for FIDE Ratings purpose wasn't accounted for. For FIDE it's just very simple - FIDE will just reject the file for rating calculation if (1) and/or (2) were not in order. I think it is time for me to follow FIDE footstep by rejecting all tournament files that cannot get (1) and (2) in order for National Ratings calculation. Last year Malaysian Chess Festival tournament files were a nightmare when comes to (1) and (2), but this year it was rectified tremendously by IA Hamid Majid as Chief Arbiter, Tournament Director and Tournament Organiser. Kudos to Hamid! However, I still had to clean up many categories of Swensen Open that relates to (1) and (2). Hopefully, next year edition will be a nightmare-free.

 
Click here to download the complete list of MCF Chess Rating List.

Click here to download the MCF Chess Rating List of 15,499 Malaysian Male Players that represents an additional 562 players (+3.8%) if compared with 3 months ago.

Click here to download the MCF Chess Rating List of 5,300 Malaysian Female Players. An additional of 259 players (+4.9%) if compared with 3 months ago. 
 
For update on specific player's rating changes in the last 3 months, click here.