Rating system

Sorry, We have no time to complete this help file. Below is only a brief description on the Rating System of WING, which We suppose to be most essential for the moment.

What is a Rated Rank?
At WING, every user set his/her own rank. This preset rank is only a temporary rank. It is unrated yet. The Server will 'rate' it according to the result of the player. When it is rated, a '*' will be added to the rank.

In order to get a rated rank, normally you need to play at least 12 rated games on WING, except the following cases:

(1) Your result satisfied the condition before you played 12 rated games.
(2) You have a rated rank on other Go Servers like IGS/NNGS/LGS.

What is a Rated Game?
A rated game is a game that can be used to judge the actual rating of the player. Please take note that a game played between two players both with an unrated rank can NEVER be a rated game, although their ratings change upon the result.

Besides, if you play a game without a proper handicap and komi, it will not be treated as a rated game as well. Whether a game is rated or not, it is usually informed when the game starts.

If you already have a rated rank, it is easy to play a rated game. You need only to play an EMATCH on a 19x19 board with a player who has a rank (not NR). Then usually it will become a rated game.

If you do not have a rated rank, you must be careful if you wish to play a rated game. You must at lease fulfill the following conditions:

(1) Set your own rank.
(2) Play with someone who has a rated rank.
(3) Use EMATCH on a 19x19 board.

There are other conditions that needed to be met. However, under normal circumstances, you don't have to worry about them.

Rated Percentage
This is a term used to describe how much your unrated rank is 'rated'. For instance, the Rated Percentage of a player who has a rated rank is 100%. In order to get your rank rated, you must at least achieve a R.P. of 66%. If your result is quite even (number of loss and number of wins are close), your R.P. only depends on the number of rated games you played. However, if you won too much or lost too much, your R.P will remain low regardless of the number of games you played. In that case, you might have set a wrong rank and you would need to reset your rank in order to get it rated more quickly.

This R.P. is decisive when make influence on the rating change of your opponent. The higher your R.P. is, the more influence you will induce. In other words, the change of your rating depends on the R.P. of your opponents.

R.P. is displayed in the STATS command. For a player who has a rated rank, R.P is always 100% and therefore is not shown. For a player who does not have a rated rank, if the R.P. is not shown, it means that the R.P. is zero.

Rating Changes
The rating changes of a game is usually shown when the game starts. Sometimes, your rating may not change at all. Usually, your rating arises when you won and drops when you lost. Your rating will never arise when you lost, neither it will drop when you won. The changes depend on the handicap, komi, your opponent's rating and R.P., the difference of the R.P., and also depends on the Game Time and Byo-Yomi Time.

(1) Both players have rated rank
Normally, when EMATCH is used, the winner gets a maximum of 10 points and the loser lost a maximum of 10 points. If you use MATCH and set any side to have more advantage, the maximum change will be widened to within -15 to +15 points.

(2) Player A has rated rank and Player B has no rated rank
The change of B's rating is same as case (1). The change of A's rating depends on the R.P. of B. In this case, A's rating change is usually at most 50% of case (1). If B's R.P. is low, A's rating change becomes almost ignorable.

(3) Both players does not have rated rank
This is more complicated. It depends on the R.P. of both players. If both has high R.P., the rating changes is almost the same rate as that R.P. If both has low R.P., the rating changes is close to 100%. If A has a high R.P. and B has a low R.P., A's rating change would be ignorable and B's rating change depends on R.P. of A.

See also: RANK, RANKCONV, RATINGPOINT

EMATCH

Syntax 1: EMATCH opponent time byo-yomi boardsize

The most common syntax use in EMATCH. Parameters except opponent are optional. It will be set to the player's default when omitted. The server will decide the colors according to the ratings.

Ex: ematch Tom 1 15

Request an even match to Tom, seting time to 1 minute and byo-yomi to 15 minutes. The board size will be set to your defaults.

Syntax 2: EMATCH opponent color time byo-yomi

This syntax is same as MATCH and FMATCH. Parameters except opponent are optional. However, usually you will need to set all parameters because time and byo-yomi are usually the most essential parameters. If you want to save typing, use Syntax 1. The colors are W or B, stand for the color you wish to take.

Ex: ematch Tom b 19 5 12

Request an Even Match to Tom, setting time to 5 minutes and byo-yomi to 12 minutes, you playing as Black. The board size is 19.

* Only boardsize 19, 13 , 9 is acceptable.
* Byo-yomi is the time period for you to play 25 moves after you used up your time. For instance, if the byo-yomi is 12, you need to play 25 moves within 12 minutes. Another 12 minutes will be given after you play 25 moves. Take note that the remaining time in the previous byo-yomi period is trashed, not carried forward to the next byo-yomi period.
* All MATCH (EMATCH,MATCH,FMATCH) commands are for requesting a match. Usually, you should use TELL before you issue an request, to ensure that the opponent is willing to accept. Likewise, you may decline a game request if someone issues it without any prior consensus.

Below are some examples:

tell Tom a game?
tell Tom 1 12?
tell Tom 5 15 ematch?

What is an EMATCH?
EMATCH stands for EVEN MATCH, ie, the komi and handicap will be set to an even match condition automatically. In an EMATCH, the server will decide the komi and handicap and set it automatically when the game starts. You can save trouble issuing the komi and handicap commands.

IMPORTANT:
Don't rely too much on the d's and k's. EMATCH depends on your rating point, not the d's or k's. Meanwhile, the difference between a 3d and 2d does not necessarily equels that of a 3k and 2k. Also, one 3d may be one very close to a 4d, while another 3d very close to a 2d. Sometimes EMATCH might give you a h-2 game at a One-dan or One-kyu difference match, while the komi set to negative. But that is an Even Match, doubtlessly.

Below are some examples of match condition due to rating differences.

50 points difference: No handicap, komi 0.5
100 points difference: 2 handicaps, komi -4.5
150 points difference: 2 handicaps, komi 0.5

* Commands available while playing a game
See: HELP PLAYING (You can find many useful informations in HELP PLAYING if you are a newbie.)
See also: decline, accept, match, fmatch, say, pass, undo, games, open, refresh, verbose

DECLARE

Declare command is used to confisicate a game if your opponent fail to re-connect after disconnected from a game. Usually, when a player disconnects in the middle of a game, he is responsible to come back ASAP to continue the game. When he re-connects, the server will load the adjourned game automatically, unless the waiting player has logged out or started another game. This sort of adjourned games, which are due to disconnection, are put into a waiting list for 5 minutes. If the player fails to re-connect after 5 minutes, the server will inform the waiting player that he is able to use 'DECLARE' or 'DISMISS' command, within the next 5 minutes. If the player types 'DECLARE', the game will be won by the waiting player.

This 'DECLARE' command is useful to prevent escapers. It makes the act of 'ESCAPE' meaningless. Take note that if a game is played less than 10 moves, 'DECLARE' is not available. Instead, only 'DISMISS' is available.

If the waiting player does nothing within the second 5-minute period, he will lose the priviledge and the game will be treated as a standard adjourned game. You will have to use 'load' to continue the game. However, autoload is still effective in the second 5-minute period. If the disconnected player happens to log in before you type 'DECLARE' or 'DISMISS', the game will be autoloaded and you lose the priviledge. You can use the 'WAITLIST' command to check the time and the list of the current autoload games.

See also: dismiss, adjourn, resign, waitlist, disconnect

DISMISS

DISMISS command is used to dismiss a game when your opponent fails to re-connect after disconnected from a game. Usually, when a player dis-connected in the middle of a game, he is responsible to come back ASAP to continue the game. When he arrives, the server will load the adjourned game automatically, unless the waiting player has logged out or started another game. Adjourned games due to disconnection are put into a waiting list for 5 minutes. If the player fails to re-connect after 5 minutes, the server will inform the waiting player that he is able to use 'DECLARE' or 'DISMISS' command within the next 5 minutes. If the player types 'DISMISS', the game will be treated as a 'draw' and removed from the adjourned game list. Instead, it will be saved as an SGF file in case you want to review it.

By using 'DISMISS', you can avoid keeping piles of stored files that you have no intention to continue.

If the waiting player does nothing within the second 5-minute period, he will lose the priviledge and the game will be treated as a standard adjourned game. You will have to use 'load' to continue the game. However, autoload is still effective in the second 5-minute period. If the disconnected player happens to log in before you type 'DECLARE' or 'DISMISS', the game will be autoloaded and you lose the priviledge.

You can use the 'WAITLIST' command to check the time and the list of the current autoload games.

See also: DECLARE, adjourn, resign, waitlist, disconnect