United States Chess Federation - Ratings

Ratings

The USCF provides the main rating system for tournament chess in the United States in conjunction with approximately 2,000 affiliates, mostly chess clubs and local chess organizations. Earlier, the USCF used a rating system that was invented by Arpad Elo, a college professor of physics who was a chess master. Elo worked with the USCF for many years, and the system is utilized in a variety of other games and sports, including USA Today's college football and basketball rankings. Recently, the USCF has transitioned to a rating system that was proposed by Mark Glickman. Glickman, currently the chairman of the USCF Ratings Committee, is a college statistics professor who plays chess and has written numerous papers related to rating systems. The current rating system as implemented by the USCF is still an Elo rating system, but with a sliding K-factor. There is an ongoing discussion within the USCF Ratings Committee of going to Glickman's Glicko-2 system in the future. The Glicko-2 system is an enhanced version of the Glicko system that would better allow for rapid jumps in ratings by young and upcoming scholastic players whose ratings might improve dramatically in a short period of time.