Nationals ratings

In some countries minimal rating you can achieve is 1600. Why is that so? even if you lose all your tourney games, you would still be 1600...

to prevent average ratings going down in time....this rule(1600) is supposed to compensate the fact that usually players enter the system with some rating and when they leave the system(retiring) they leave with more rating points than when they entered the system....

Interesting. I don't think this is true in the US though.

Originally posted by vipiu
to prevent average ratings going down in time....this rule(1600) is supposed to compensate the fact that usually players enter the system with some rating and when they leave the system(retiring) they leave with more rating points than when they entered the system....

But doesn't that mess everything up ? I supposse that is pretty easy to break say 1700 even if you objectivly aren't that good..? Does that make inflated ratings ?

Originally posted by ivan2908
But doesn't that mess everything up ? I supposse that is pretty easy to break say 1700 even if you objectivly aren't that good..? Does that make inflated ratings ?

No. You cannot possibly compare those ratings because the systems differ. You could say that some ratings are higher THAN USCF but not inflated. In my country, a novice is rated 1500, 4th category player 1650, 3d category - 1750, 2nd category - 1850, 1st category - 1950. Then follows candidate master, national master, FM, IM, GM (their rating is independent from their title. You just fulfill the norms to get a title, but you don't get higher rating then). However, until you are not 1st category, your rating stays the same (except when you climb to a higher category) no matter how much you play, it is just used to calculate your opponent's rating.