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USCF rating to ECF grade

USCF rating to ECF grade

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I've got a question for our American fiends.

I'm trying to determine how strong a player with a USCF rating of 1500 is. I've always thought that USCF ratings were roughly the same as FIDE ratings and there is a formula for converting ECF grades to FIDE ratings: 1250 + ECF*5 = FIDE.

However that formula would suggest that a player with a USCF rating of 1500 would have an ECF grade of roughly 50, which seems to me to be far too low.

Does anyone here have experience in playing competitive OTB chess in both Britain and America? If so, what rating and grade did you achieve?

I know of only one player who had a grade of 155 in Britain and obtained a USCF rating of just over 2000 when he moved to America. However I'm more interested in slightly weaker players, those I would consider "average club players" in Britain with a grade between say, 100 and 130.

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In fact, I believe USCF ratings are still slightly inflated vs. FIDE. Its been worse in the past. USCF has periodically worked to correct it a little, but I think its still true. They are pretty close, though.

Can't help on the direct comparison to ECF, though.

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Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've got a question for our American fiends.

I'm trying to determine how strong a player with a USCF rating of 1500 is. I've always thought that USCF ratings were roughly the same as FIDE ratings and there is a formula for converting ECF grades to FIDE ratings: 1250 + ECF*5 = FIDE.

However that formula would suggest that a player with a USCF rating of ...[text shortened]... I would consider "average club players" in Britain with a grade between say, 100 and 130.
A USCF 1500 would be a slightly above average tournament player making him equivalent to about say a 115 ECF. See this thread and the links contained therein: http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?subject=ECF_v._USCF_Ratings&threadid=100142

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USCF tends to be inflated for some reason so a 1200 USCF is 1000 FIDE while a 1500 USCF is about 1200 FIDE.

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Originally posted by Jie
UFC tends to be inflated for some reason so a 1200 UFC is 1000 FIDE while a 1500 UFC is about 1200 FIDE.
Absolutely false. Present some data to support this claim.

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I thought a 2000 rating from FIDE would correlate to around a 2100-2150 rating from USCF. Is that correct?

About 30 years ago, an IM used to be rated around 3000 (!) USCF. The USCF ratings have been corrected since then, but the numbers still tend to be "high" I believe.

There is also that story about a prisoner who got his USCF or FIDE rating to be the second after Fischer's just by playing against fellow inmates. Oh, off-topic. But can someone point me in a direction where I can find more about it?

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Originally posted by Jie
UFC tends to be inflated for some reason so a 1200 UFC is 1000 FIDE while a 1500 UFC is about 1200 FIDE.
What is a UFC rating anyway.

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Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've got a question for our American fiends.

I'm trying to determine how strong a player with a USCF rating of 1500 is. I've always thought that USCF ratings were roughly the same as FIDE ratings and there is a formula for converting ECF grades to FIDE ratings: 1250 + ECF*5 = FIDE.

However that formula would suggest that a player with a USCF rating of I would consider "average club players" in Britain with a grade between say, 100 and 130.
You may also check out this page from the Exeter Chess Club: http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/bcftable.html

The chart at the bottom says a higher USCF Class C(1500-1600 USCF) is equivalent to at least a ECF 100 and at least an ELO 1750.

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Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've got a question for our American fiends.

I'm trying to determine how strong a player with a USCF rating of 1500 is. I've always thought that USCF ratings were roughly the same as FIDE ratings and there is a formula for converting ECF grades to FIDE ratings: 1250 + ECF*5 = FIDE.

However that formula would suggest that a player with a USCF rating of ...[text shortened]... I would consider "average club players" in Britain with a grade between say, 100 and 130.
http://www.bluehorizonweb.com/blog/2008/06/grading/new-ecf-to-elo-conversion-formula/

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Originally posted by no1marauder
You may also check out this page from the Exeter Chess Club: http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/bcftable.html

The chart at the bottom says a higher USCF Class C(1500-1600 USCF) is equivalent to at least a ECF 100 and at least an ELO 1750.
That sounds about right. Thanks for the link.

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Originally posted by heinzkat
I thought a 2000 rating from FIDE would correlate to around a 2100-2150 rating from USCF. Is that correct?

About 30 years ago, an IM used to be rated around 3000 (!) USCF. The USCF ratings have been corrected since then, but the numbers still tend to be "high" I believe.
True Dat. I think it is a cultural thing as American Cars are BIG, the game where they chase a football and then have gigantic scores is BIG.... food is BIG and people become BIG....

Look at the ratings of USCF and compare it to a FIDE rating, it is WAY inflated.

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Originally posted by Jie
True Dat. I think it is a cultural thing as American Cars are [b]BIG, the game where they chase a football and then have gigantic scores is BIG.... food is BIG and people become BIG....

Look at the ratings of USCF and compare it to a FIDE rating, it is WAY inflated.[/b]
You make it look like the relatively "high" USCF ratings are a negative thing...? They're just numbers.

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Originally posted by Jie
USCF tends to be inflated for some reason so a 1200 USCF is 1000 FIDE while a 1500 USCF is about 1200 FIDE.
I think the high end USCF ratings are a little inflated compared with FIDE, but it is difficult to tell for players below 2000 USCF because FIDE is very much aimed at stronger players.

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Originally posted by heinzkat
There is also that story about a prisoner who got his USCF or FIDE rating to be the second after Fischer's just by playing against fellow inmates.
Off-topic again. It was Claude Bloodgood who raised his USCF rating to 2702, making him the second-highest rated player of the United States in 1996, just by playing fellow inmates.

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The USCF Ratings Committee came up with a new FIDE-to-USCF conversion formula in August 2008. It's discussed in the middle of the following report:

http://math.bu.edu/people/mg/ratings/report08.txt


Edit:
More background information -
http://math.bu.edu/people/mg/ratings/fideuscf.pdf
http://math.bu.edu/people/mg/ratings/uscf_fide.jpg

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