| Player Ratings |
What's My Rating?
View ratings online or download rating file in CSV format (readable by Excel and similar programs). You can also view the school codes (allcodes) list here.
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Oregon All-Stars
See the top players in the state -- and learn about an exciting new opportunity for those who earn All-Star honors!
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The NWSRS "Top-Ten" List for Washington Players
This is a grade-by-grade listing of the highest rated players in Washington.
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| Frequently Asked Questions: Player Ratings |
Question: What is a "rating" and why do I need one?
Answer: A chess rating is a numerical grading that indicates the history of a player's performance - and a statistical prediction of his/her near-future performance among other players in the same rating community
A rating helps players to measure individual progress and seek out appropriate competition.
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Question: What are the rating systems available to scholastic players in the Northwest?
Answer: The most common and widespread chess rating system in the United States is managed by the US Chess Federation (USCF). You you might also be familiar with the Washington Scholastic Rating System (WSRS), which has now become the Northwest Scholastic Rating System. You might also have seen ratings assigned by various online chess clubs and chess programs.
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Question: What's a "good" rating for a scholastic player?
Answer: Ratings in the USCF and NWSRS from 100 to 2800. Chess Masters are 2200 and above; experts are 2000 and above. The vast majority of active scholastic chess players in America have ratings under 1200. If players have ratings in both the NWSRS and the USCF, they are often fairly close. Online club ratings tend to be a bit "inflated" over NWSRS and USCF ratings, and ratings assigned by programs like ChessMaster tend to be greatly inflated, so don't be disappointed if your first rating is significantly lower than what the computer tells you it is.
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Question: How do I earn a rating?
Answer: To earn a rating in the USCF, you must join the USCF for an annual fee and play in a USCF rated tournament. To earn a rating in the NWSRS, you do not have to join an organization baseline rating.
The NWSRS is an expansion of the WSRS, so if you have previously earned a rating the the WSRS (Washington Scholastic Rating System), that will be your baseline rating in the NWSRS.
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Question: Will the tournament I just played in be rated on NWSRS in time for my next event? How do I know which section to play in?
Answer: Events are rated by the NWSRS in chronological order. TDs typically download the latest rating list a day or two before an event. This is the file they use to make section placement and pairing decisions. Depending on how close together the events are, when the previous event was submitted for rating, and the publishing schedule on NWSRS, it is possible that your "old" rating will be the most current one available to the tournament director. The NWSRS rating coordinators rate and publish as quickly as possible, but there are sometimes delays or a need to get more information from a tournament director.
Usually, the tournament director will place you in the most appropriate section based on the "official" published rating. This may or may not include the event you just played a few days before. You are usually allowed to play up in a higher section but not play down in a lower one. If you are not sure which section you belong in, discuss it with the tournament director or your coach.
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Question: In viewing the results from a tournament, I noticed that some players seemed to be in the wrong section, based on their rating at the beginning of the tournament. Why is that?
Answer: Suppose you look at a U1000 section and notice that a player rated 1050 was allowed to play in that section. There are several reasons why this could happen:
a) Events are rated by the NWSRS in chronological order. TDs typically download the latest rating list a day or two before an event. This is the file they use to make section placement and pairing decisions. If, in the meantime, a very recent event is submitted for rating, the results of that event will be rated first -- and those ratings will be used to rate subsequent events. For example, suppose John Smith has a rating of 980 and plays in an in-house tournament on Thursday. The results of that event are submitted for rating on Friday. They are rated and published on Saturday. Any TDs running Saturday tournaments would most likely be using the rating files current as of Thursday or Friday. Suppose, as a result of the in-house tournament, John's rating went to 1050. That is the rating that will show up on the rating report as the "starting rating" for the Saturday tournament. Rest assured that a player's rating is always accurate as long as we endeavor to rate in chronological order. Players who win or lose to John are rated based on the most up-to-date information. Every effort is made by the rating team to promptly publish new rating files. And most TDs try to wait as late as possible before downloading the latest rating files. Despite these best efforts, occasionally, such timing issues can impact a player's section placement or seeding in an event.
If you are familiar with USCF Rating Supplements, you are familiar with this situation. Many TDs will advertise that section placement and seeding will be based on a particular supplement. Because USCF Rating Supplements are published only every 2 months, a player's most current rating, which is reflected in the rating report for the event, will not always match the rating used for section placement and seeding.
b) Depending on what the TD publishes as policy, the player's NWSRS rating may have been provisional, which gives the TD some discretion in section placement. Another possibility is that the TD published a policy that suggested USCF rating or some other factor played more heavily in section placement.
c) If the TD published in their literature that they reserved the right to move players around to balance sections, this right may have been exercised by the TD.
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