Ratings Manipulation

There is a very strong player on this site who appears to be suppressing their rating by deliberately losing to lower ranked players. To what end I have no idea, but it must be annoying for the higher rated players that fall prey and I don’t think it’s good for the site to have this sort of thing go unchallenged.

The player in question has been ranked as high as 2300, but, since August, their rating has been all over the place and has dipped below 1000 on more than one occasion before climbing back up again. I have not played them myself. The reason I noticed the dramatic ratings fluctuations is because the player is very active and regularly has multiple games appearing on the open invite list.

Now I realise there are legitimate explanations for why a player’s rating may suddenly dip. However, if you look at the player’s game history since late August, it is pretty obvious that they are systematically losing to lower ranked players, while at the same time comfortably beating more highly rated players. Furthermore, the player regularly specifies a low rating threshold on their open invites (e.g. < 900) and it’s hard to see a good reason why such a quality player would be choosing to do this. Also, they have never lost by timeout.

What’s been going on is pretty blatant and I can’t be the only one who has noticed. Therefore, I’m a bit surprised it’s been allowed to continue for so long. I’m not suggesting that the player should be banned because:
- they are a paying subscriber (which is more than can be said for me!)
- they are active and of good quality, so a valuable addition to the player base
- deliberately losing does not seem to be explicitly prohibited by the ToS, although I think it probably should be
However, I do think it is undesirable behaviour and it would be good if the site admins could have a quiet word and get them to cut it out. What does everyone else think?

Definitely needs to be addressed.
Every subscriber and even non-subscribers have the right to make whatever moves they want and resign any game they want but stronger players should be held to a higher standard.

I would like to hear his reasoning behind his behavior. I disagree with it.

Weak player with computer assistance, wins and loses when it suits him.

@kewpie said
Weak player with computer assistance, wins and loses when it suits him.

Interesting thought that hadn’t occurred to me. That would be worse and a clear breach of ToS, although difficult to prove without detailed analysis of their successful games. Should definitely be banned if this is the case. Does RHP have a softer touch with paying subscribers?

@nomorechess said
Definitely needs to be addressed.
Every subscriber and even non-subscribers have the right to make whatever moves they want and resign any game they want but stronger players should be held to a higher standard.

I would like to hear his reasoning behind his behavior. I disagree with it.

I have two theories, but obviously they are wild conjecture on my part.

Theory 1 - player thinks he is the Robin Hood of RHP, taking from the ratings rich and giving to the ratings poor.

Theory 2 - player is a troll and just likes screwing people over.

@aow said
I have two theories, but obviously they are wild conjecture on my part.

Theory 1 - player thinks he is the Robin Hood of RHP, taking from the ratings rich and giving to the ratings poor.

Theory 2 - player is a troll and just likes screwing people over.

I like Theory 1.
I would love to have a joust with this Robin Hood.
My rating has taken a beating this passed year. ☺

@aow said
There is a very strong player on this site who appears to be suppressing their rating by deliberately losing to lower ranked players. To what end I have no idea, but it must be annoying for the higher rated players that fall prey and I don’t think it’s good for the site to have this sort of thing go unchallenged.

The player in question has been ranked as high as 2300, but, si ...[text shortened]... the site admins could have a quiet word and get them to cut it out. What does everyone else think?

Send feedback and name the player voicing your suspicions.
Sounds like sandbagging to me(deliberately lowering your rating to enter lower rated tournaments or to con unobservant clan captains to get challenges you should win to gain clan points)

Just won against a player rated over 200 more than myself. Yet, my rating doesn’t seem to have gone up at all!
Do you know why this might be?

@Stemac

It was played as a non-rated game.