bookbuilder - 29 October 2015 10:43 AM
well only wins is a bit simple, against a stronger player a draw with black in fact is good,
(and a won game very good) and thus the ‘Elo’ rankings should be calculated; in fact the system
with 0.5 for every won game still is a bit simple, i would propose something as the following:
(in addition to the normal rating calculations, like done this month i.e. October):
After some discussion maybe possible for December, or maybe already November:
A) 0.5 (extra) points for a draw with Black (0 for White, yes, this can cost rating points for White..)
B) 0.5 up to 1 (extra) points for a win with White (similar as now, i.e. done in October)
C) 1 up to 1.5 (extra) points for a win with Black (instead of 0.5 as it’s now)
Not sure yet about the value of parameters B and C
and ofcourse the whole thing can also be scaled (eg 3/5 x A,B,C)
For discussion, on the basis of the October results sofar we could get
an estimate how such a system would look like (the idea is that
it’s better reflecting real strength (based on the inherent advantage
with White), while also giving bonuses for playing more often,
but maybe not so much as in October (here it was beneficial
to run 24/7, in my system there’s maybe a better balance.
Giving more point for drawing with black is not good. Why?
1) It is too easy to set the engine to draw (and they already draw most of the time because they are all of even strength).
2) It favors engines that are online 24/7 and that are playing a huge number of games, so they will have many more draws that will then help have a better score, even with a weak engines.
Imo, you don’t decide who is the best by how many draws he get, but how many wins he gets, or how many more games he did play.
The rating is still the best way to determine the best engine among its peers for a month, although I questioned sometime why the ratings we have are not higher then what is listed.
Once establish, the rating self-correct itself because draws among engines of the same strength have no effect on the rating, and only the wins helps get a higher rating.
And there is no clear proof (yet) that black, by playing second, is at a disadvantage.
The only real disadvantage is for engines that have no proper opening book. This is mainly make some engine seems like they perform better then others, because they have better opening line then others.