When the ratings count

I recently had a game against a player who is normally rated in the 1700s but recently went on vacation and got timed out numerous times, dropping his rating to somewhere in the 1400s. Well, I won this game on a blunder he made and got 10 or so rating points (me being in the 1575 range while he was still 1450ish), and I noticed that a door was opened here for me to manipulate the ratings. Knowing that I had mate in one, I could have simply held onto the game until my opponent reached a higher rating (his normal rating, I should say), and THEN made the move, in which case I would have received more points for my win than I would have before just because I waited. I was thinking that maybe the ratings should be counted for what they are when the game first begins, if there is a way to do this. If not, then is there anyway to avoid someone doing this to their opponent? I'm not sure if this has ever come up before but it seems like a rather easy way to cheat your opponent.


-Kev

It has come up before, but i don't know what happened to it then. I have noticed the same.

In a similar way you can hold all games you're about to win, resign all games in wich you're losing, then win all other games, causing your rating to be higher then if you'd played normally.

I vote for your solution, to award points according to rating when the game is started. But that would be unfair for 1400 players batling against 2000 players who just started here...

There's no way and no need to change it,since the system is the best as it is now.

You didn't even mention the issue, Rav. Maybe the system doesn't have to be changed so drastically but there should still be a way to avoid this from happening, don'tcha think? If no one else thinks this is as big a problem as I seem to think it is than that's cool, but I felt I still should mention it.


-Kev

The thing is you've beaten a player who was recently much higher rated than he is now, and he's only dropped his rating through poor game management, so you're entitled to as many points as you can get. It wouldn't strictly be cheating, but just playing within the time rules that apply to the site.

I guess that's the majority view on this issue. Yet, it still seems very.... I dunno, it just doesn't seem right to me that this could really happen on here. I know that RHP runs on the honor-system and we trust each other to not use chess programs and not flag us while on vacation and etc etc, but you're acting as if it'd be acceptable behavior to do something like this to another player. I guess my own argument against my original point is that we all just have to trust that our opponents won't do this to us, but it'd still be nice if there was an easier solution than "just hope it doesn't happen to you!"


-Kev

I don't think of it that much, it's just the way the site is. If I'm losing a game against a lower rated play and I've got time then, naturally common sense tells me if I play to time his rating might rise and I'll lose less - or vice versa. The odd thing is though you win or lose the most points on RHP when you and your opponents rating is similar. Check out the rating calulator http://www7.brinkster.com/obyrne/rhp_rc.htm

Originally posted by seraphimvulture
I recently had a game against a player who is normally rated in the 1700s but recently went on vacation and got timed out numerous times, dropping his rating to somewhere in the 1400s. Well, I won this game on a blunder he made and got 10 or so rating points (me being in the 1575 range while he was still 1450ish), and I noticed that a door was opene ...[text shortened]... is has ever come up before but it seems like a rather easy way to cheat your opponent.


-Kev

I don't see the slightest issue of cheating in this.
Let's say you waited 'till your oppo reached his NORMAL rating again.All you would have done is wait 'till the situation was NORMAL again,as it was before he/she suffered time-outs,and you would get what you deserve.After all,you beat a player of 1700 strength,not one of 1400.I don't see how this can be called cheating.And you certainly didn't cheat your opponent!How was he/she harmed in this?
Changing the system by counting ratings at the beginning of the game doesn't solve anything.What if you start a game against that player right after he suffered time-outs?You'd be playing a 1400 who's actually a 1700.And should you beat him by the time he's back at his normal rating you'd get points for beating a 1400!And we're back where we started.

Sir Lot.

Originally posted by SirLoseALot
I don't see the slightest issue of cheating in this.
Let's say you waited 'till your oppo reached his NORMAL rating again.All you would have done is wait 'till the situation was NORMAL again,as it was before he/she suffered time-outs,and you would get what you deserve.After all,you beat a player of 1700 strength,not one of 1400.I don't see how this ...[text shortened]... ormal rating you'd get points for beating a 1400!And we're back where we started.

Sir Lot.

Fair enough. I'll drop it then.


-Kev

There's another view to this issue:
Your opponent can resign!
Let's say that your 1700 opp (currently 1400) is about to win a number of games in a short while it would be wise of him to resign the game against you as soon as possible, thus minimizing his loss of rating points.

Alas, there's no problem whatsoever. And we're certainly not talking cheating in any way...

anyway what are we talking here? an extra 4 or 5 points?

hardly break the bank...