From: bogin <bogin <at> YAHOO <dot> CO <dot> JP>
Date: 12 dec 2002
Subject: Re: Elo ratings and grades

Dear Mr. Stouten,

Thank you for another reply.

> The discussion so far has shown that people attach a
> lot of
> significance to grades. In fact, you yourself demonstrated that by
> questioning Artem Kolomiyets 2-dan grade compared to Tao Jiming's
> 3-dan. If
> the correlation between ratings and grades dwindles, people will
> start to
> think that grades (or ratings or both) mean little or nothing. I
> think we
> should avoid that and, therefore, we should be careful with awarding
> or
> recognizing grades.
Actually, the only thing I was questioning was what you said about Mr.
Kolomiyets haven not played a given number of games (I believe the number
you gave was 18 but I apologize if I am mistaken) at a certain level as
being the reason why has wasn't awarded the 3dan rank. I could understand
the reasoning behind that except for the following reasons: Mr. Jiming's
has only played 6 games as opposed to Mr. Kolomiyets 10, his rating is only
3 points higher, he played in the 2nd board tournament at the recent Shogi
Forum whereas Mr. Kolomiyets played in the top class. Yet, Mr. Jiming is
listed as 3dan and Mr. Kolomiyets is listed as a 2dan. If the main sticking
point is the number of games played at a certain level then the application
of that rule in this case seems a little inconsistent. I have no idea where
or how Mr. Jiming attained his rank and I wasn't trying to belittle his
shogi ability at all. He is probably quite strongand perhaps it was unfair
to use him as a comparison. But, again if the number of games played is the
main reason for listing Mr. Kolomiyets as a 2dan then shouldn't the same
rule apply to Mr. Jiming and others as well?

Bill Gaudry

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