Yorkshire Chess
Association |
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update: |
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Zero and Negative
Grades? |
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Theoretically it is possible to get a
grade of zero or even a negative grade, but the important thing to understand is that
there is no connection whatsoever between a player being ungraded and a player having a
grade of zero. (See What about Ungraded Players?)
Zero and negative grades are possible
because it is in the nature of chess playing skill that there is no definable absolute
datum for a grading scale. The scale is
pitched so that players are usually above zero, without the normal range being far above
zero. You could say it expects players to be
about 150 plus or minus up to 100 grading points. However,
really exceptionally weak players who spend their time losing to "only very
weak" players will occasionally end up with a zero or negative grade. Such grades mean very little. To save embarrassment they are usually published
as some token minimum grade such as 1 or 5.
A zero grade is a bit like a room
temperature of 0° centigrade. It's
improbable but possible, and the temperature could in theory be lower. There is nothing special about 0°C. It's just that somebody thought the freezing point
of water would make a handy reference point for "normal" temperatures. It doesn't mean temperatures can't be lower.
There is in fact, conceptually, an
"absolute" zero temperature, when matter contains no kinetic energy (arguably an
unattainable state). Chess is not the same. There is no usefully definable "absolutely
useless" level of chess playing (in-)ability. You
could argue that a player playing totally random moves would merit a chess grade of zero,
but even on that scale a player intentionally playing especially bad moves would merit a
negative grade. Thus a grade of
"absolute zero" hasn't usefully be defined as a basis for a grading system.
In fact, if all grades had 1027 (or
any other arbitrary number) added to them, they would still mean the same relative to each
other, and the grading calculations would still be the same. You could subtract 1,000 from all grades, making
super GMs around -750 and ordinary mortals around -890.
These grades would work in the same way and be just as valid, but would look silly.