From: Adam Chalcraft PHOENIX CAMBRIDGE AC UK> Date: 2 feb 1993 Subject: Re: Castling John Kenney writes: > Chris Kmotorka writes: > >>Also, in the LADDER STANDING file, is there any way to know how >>strong a player is? Some list it before the name, but most don't. > >... For more >info. contact Chris Sterrit (the ladder coordinator) and have a look at >the Shogi-L info. file on the ladder. To answer Chris, the "grades" before peoples names on the ladder are totally unofficial, and are just whatever people feel like putting there. I happen to quote my last tournament strength. This is a little out of date now, but I don't want to upgrade myself. The kyu ratings particularly are a fairly subjective opinion of playing strength. The idea of the ladder is to get away from only playing people of your own strength. After all, you can play your opening moves perfectly in an e-mail game if you've got the literature, and you can take days over your move, so it's not a standard situation at all. I introduced the idea of people being able to put their "grades" into the ladder so that you don't spend a few months trying to beat 3-dan players when there's a 20-kyu you should have challenged in the first place. This should sort the ladder into grades a bit more quickly. If more people told me their "grades", I'd put those grades onto the ladder. If people don't want their grades on the ladder, then that's fine by me as well. To answer John, Chris Sterrit is not the ladder coordinator. I am. dac11 phx cam ac uk Happy playing, - Adam.