BYCA Grading Information 2003/04

The BYCA Start Grade allocated this season has been based on the Bucks Megafinal 2003 and Bucks Junior Congress 2002 placings, coupled with the BCF allocated grades.  All Bucks players who took place in these tournaments together with players who represented Bucks at U18, U14, U11 and U9 have all been allocated a starting grade for this season.

During the 2003/04 season a player's Performance Grade will be provided based on the BCF grading rules.  The following competitions will be graded:

  • Bucks Junior Congress 2003
  • BYCA League (All division matches)
  • UK Chess Challenge Bucks Megafinal 2004
  • UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal 2004
  • EPSCA U11 Championships (Zonal)
    and Final if qualified
  • EPSCA U9 Championships (Zonal)
    and Final if qualified
  • Chiltern League U14/90 Matches
  • Chiltern League U18/170 Matches
  • ECGCF U14 Girls Tournaments
  • ECGCF U11 Girls Tournaments
  • NYCA Tournaments
  • Other Junior Congresses where complete results are provided

BYCA Grading Rules

Points are allocated in respect of each game played as follows:

            1.  For a win - opponents grade plus 50 points.
            2.  For a draw - opponents grade.
            3.  For a loss - opponents grade minus 50 points.

Where an opponent's grade is 40 points or more higher then the opponent's grade used is exactly 40 points higher.  Similarly if the opponent's grade is 40 points or more lower then the opponent's grade used is exactly 40 points lower.

The BYCA Performance Grade is calculated by dividing the total number of points by the number of games played.

For example, if your grade was 55 and you played the following games during a tournament:

 

Opponent's Grade Result Calculation Points Scored
45 Win 45 + 50 95
60 Win 60 + 50 110
75 Loss 75 - 50 25
50 Win 50 + 50 100
125 Loss (55+40) - 50 45
85 Draw 85 85
Total Points 460
No Games 6
Performance
in Tournament		 460 / 6 77

If now you have played in following tournaments during the season the the performance grades are calculated as follows: 

 

Tournament Score / Games Played BYCA Start Grade Tournament Performance BYCA Performance Grade BYCA 
Overall Performance
Grade
460 / 6 55 77 460 / 6 77 [24 * 55 + 6 * 77] / 30 59
430 / 5 55 86 890 / 11 81 [19 * 55 + 11 * 81] / 30 65
405 / 7 55 58 1295 / 18 72  [12 * 55 + 18 * 72] / 30 65
380 / 6 55 63 1675 / 24 70 [6 * 55 + 24 * 70] / 30 67
140 / 3 55 47 1815 / 27 67 [3 * 55 + 27 * 67] / 30 66
260 / 6 55 44 2075 / 33 63 >>>>>>> 63
336 / 6 55 56 2411 / 39 62 >>>>>>> 62

New players, ie those not on the current list, will be allocated a grade based on age when joining together with known approximate playing strength.  Mid-range age estimates are as follows:

     U7-25, U8-30, U9-35, U10-40, U11-45, U12-50, U13-55, U14-60, U15-65, U16-70, U17-75, U18-80

The BYCA Performance Grade is calculated as follows:

     BYCA Performance Grade =  Total Points Scored / Total Games Played

The BYCA Overall Performance Grade is then calculated as follows:

     If the season Total Games Played (N) is < 31       

          BYCA Overall Performance Grade
                  = [ (30 - N) * BYCA Start Grade + N * BYCA Performance Grade ] / 30

     If the season Total Games Played (N) is > 30

         BYCA Overall Performance Grade = BYCA Performance Grade

BCF Grades

A player's BCF Grade is an indication of their strength.  With each Grade is a category, which indicates the extent to which games from earlier years have been incorporated into the Grade.  The categories are as follows:

Category Definition
A BCF Grade based on 30 or more games in the current year.
B BCF Grade based on 30 games in the last two years of which at least 20 were played in the current year.
C BCF Grade based on 30 games in the last three years of which at least 10 were played in the current year.
D BCF Grade based on 15 or more games in the last three years of which at least 5 were played in the current year.
E BCF Grade based on 10 or more games in the last three years of which at least 1 was played in the current year.
* BCF Grade based on less than 10 games over the last three years.

If there are 30 or more games in the current year then the Grade is based on all games played during the current year.  If there are less than 30 games played during the current year, a proportion of earlier results is brought forward to make the total up to 30.