Remember the heavy debates about ratings and K-factors, about a year ago? In the end FIDE didn't change anything, and would study further "to clarify all aspects and consequences of a possible change". An important conference on the subject will take place June 1-4.

GM Bartlomiej Macieja informed us the following:

FIDE Rating Conference 2010

Dear Chess Friends,

I would like to inform you that FIDE Rating Conference 2010 will take place in Athens from the 1st till the 4th of June.

This year it will be a conference of much bigger significance than last year, when we were limited only to propose for the Presidential Board Meeting to accept or to reject decisions taken during FIDE Congress 2008.
This year we will be able to recommend any solution and most probably our proposals will be accepted by FIDE Congress 2010.

For this reason, I encourage you to send your suggestions regarding required (or even "just" positive) changes in the Rating System directly to me at gmbartek@gmail.com (alternatively to FIDE Office).

The list of problems to be discussed includes:
- frequency of rating lists (once per month or continuous),
- best values of k-factor for different rating or age groups,
- rate of play required for rating calculations (should it depend on the strength of players, additional coefficients for different rates of play),
- a possibility of inclusion rapid games,
- proper calculation of initial ratings of new players,
- possible calculation of games played against unrated opponents,
- possible inclusion of the colour effect,
- proper definition of rating inflation and analyses if such a phenomenon exists (and how big it is).

Best regards
Bartlomiej Macieja

FIDE Rating Conference 2009, left to right: FIDE Executive Director David Jarrett, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, Nick Faulks, GM Bartlomiej Macieja, Jeff Sonas, GM John Nunn, FIDE Qualification Commission Chairman Mikko Markkula, Vladimir Kukaev; photo by FIDE Treasurer Nigel Freeman

Related articles

• On the increase of the K-factor (UPDATE)
• Macieja on the new K-factor (UPDATE 2 : Macieja answers FIDE’s reaction)
• On the increase of the K-factor – Part II
  
• No change in K-factor, for the moment