7. Grading

For more information about the Rating System we operate see the Rating System FAQ.

Many BGA tournaments are run on the McMahon system, which tries to pair players of equal strength. This relies on players entering the tournament at a realistic grade so that fair games between players can be achieved. Many European tournaments are also run on the McMahon system, so again we would like to ensure that our players perform satisfactorily in European events. Consequently the aim of the BGA ratings policy is:

keep British grades reasonably close to the European average
help players get a fair draw at BGA McMahon events and
help players perform on equal terms in European tournaments.

7.1 Rated Games

It is recognised that not all players are able to play in every tournament and some players' published ratings may lag excessively behind their actual playing strength. To address this issue, the BGA policy regarding which games count towards rating points is as follows:

All BGA events which have time limits at or better than the EGF class C limits are submitted for ratings. The main exclusions are Pairgo, and Team events.
Where isolated players cannot get to tournaments frequently enough, they can arrange 'rating games' of tournament standard against other BGA rated players to be played outside of BGA events.
Affiliated clubs may also arrange 'club ladder events', which can be submitted for ratings.
The BGA encourages travel to ensure that these 'extra games' do not lead to frequent pairings within isolated groups.
The rules governing rated games played outside BGA tournaments are found in BGA Rated Games.

7.2 Tournament Entry Grade and Rating Resets

The policy is:

If you play in a reasonable number of tournaments and are making average progress enter them at a grade equal to the strength listed on the current version of the BGA ratings page, rounded to the nearest whole number. This includes cases where the player's rounded strength is higher than his official grade.
If you are 3kyu or below and play in many tournaments, and are making very rapid progress consider promoting 1 stone more than you would normally to get at least a 2 stone rating reset.
If you can only get to tournaments infrequently and cannot arrange suitable rating games then contact your club secretary or ratings@britgo.org to discuss an appropriate tournament entry grade when you do next attend.
Strong kyu players can gain a rating reset to 1 dan or a 2 dan in extreme circumstance if this is agreed in advance with the BGA.
A dan player must agree any rating reset in advance with the BGA.

7.3 Players with On-line Grades only

The BGA encourages on-line players to enter over-the-board tournaments. In order to establish a relation between on-line server grades and BGA strengths we will be setting up a system to collect information from players who play in tournaments as well as on-line. Until a meaningful correlation between server and BGA grades is established, the following guide will apply for an on-line player entering a BGA tournament for the very first time or after a long absence:

For kyu players BGA grade is server grade - 2
For dan players BGA grade is also server grade - 2, but the highest entry grade is 2d unless agreed ahead of time with the BGA.

7.4 Dan Certificates and Grades

The BGA monitors the progress of BGA members' ratings and awards official dan certificates when specified targets have been reached. Official dan certificates are never revoked, even if a player's rating subsequently falls.

BGA dan certificates since November 2003 have been awarded based on the BGA ratings, which are in turn based on the European ratings. You will be awarded an X dan certificate when:

your strength reaches X.0 at the end of a tournament you played in, except that for promotion to 7 dan your strength must reach 7.5 dan.

In addition:

you must be a member of the BGA; and
you must have played enough games in the ratings for your strength to be meaningful.
More precisely, you must have had a run of tournaments during which you played ten or more rated games, where your rating (changed from strength by Council 26th February 2011) at the end of the run was at least as high as it was before the beginning of the run.
Note that in some cases the European rating algorithm will reset your rating. If this happens, you must meet this condition between the rating reset and being awarded a dan certificate.

Players with official dan certificates are entitled to enter tournaments at that grade, but are encouraged to enter them at a grade equal to the strength listed on the current version of the BGA ratings page, rounded to the nearest whole number. Anyone wanting to enter tournaments outside the range from their official certificate grade to their rounded strength should seek approval from the BGA Council before doing so.

We respect grades assigned by foreign Go organisations to those resident abroad.

7.5 Monitoring

In the first instance tournament directors are encouraged to be proactive in ensuring that their players are entering at realistic grades. The results of all BGA tournament are scrutinised and submitted to the EGF by the BGA ratings official. If anomalous entry grades are present in the results, submission of games to the EGF rating system may be delayed and the following procedure adopted:

The issue is first discussed with the tournament director, and if this does not resolve the problem, then:
The anomaly is discussed in Council.
Any decision taken by Council and the tournament director is communicated to both TD and player.
In most cases the results published on the web will remain unaffected.

7.6 Complaints Procedure

It is very much hoped that players' entry grades are essentially self managed, and much information is provided to help players determine their entry grades. However, if any player wishes to complain about the published rating of either themselves or another player on the BGA rating list then the following procedure must be adopted:

The player makes the complaint in writing to ratings@britgo.org.
The complaint is discussed in Council.
The Council decision is communicated to the player(s) involved as appropriate.

7.7 Calibration

In order to accommodate the varied ratings strategies in Europe, the BGA calibrates our strengths against the whole of the European database of players. This is achieved by means of a least squares fit (linear regression) of player's ratings versus grade. As at April 2010 this leads to the formula
strength=(rating−2038)/95.1
This means that a nominal shodan (rating 2100) has a strength of 1.7d rather than 1.0d. It is for this reason that rating resets in the dan grades have to be very carefully controlled. The BGA will continue to monitor the rating/grades relationship to identify any action on our calibration procedure that may be required in the future.