I’m a bit of a stats freak! Long lists of numbers give me the urge to do some analysis and put them into some sort of context we can all understand. I’m graded 83 ECF - but what does that mean in the greater scheme of things. On it’s own it means nothing, but in the context of the entire ECF grading database it shows what I expected - I’ve got a long way to go!

Having downloaded the entire ECF database which includes virtually all club and tournament players in the UK, I created a histogram of standard play grades (a total of 10376 players) using a bin width of 5 - click on the image below to view the chart.

This allows us to break down all UK club/tournament players into percentiles:

25th percentile - 82 (1660 Elo*)
50th percentile - 110 (1800 Elo)
75th percentile - 140 (1950 Elo)
90th percentile - 168 (2090 Elo)
95th percentile - 185 (2175 Elo)
99th percentile - 228 (2424 Elo)

So, based on this, my grade of 83 means that I’m just over the 25th percentile, which means I’m stronger than 25% of UK club players.

The most common grade is 117 ECF and the average player is rated with a grade of 110 (50th percentile). A top 10% club player is graded over 168. To break into the UK Top 100 you will need to be graded at least 229!

However, this only accounts for players who are serious enough to play for a club or in tournaments and obtain a rating. It is estimated that about 5 million people in the UK play chess (even if only casually), leaving around 50 million non-chess players (if we discount very young children). I’m making a fairly big assumption here, but I’m assuming that all non-chess players will be weaker than any chess player - meaning that a chess player will automatically be stronger than the other 90% of the population.

Based on those figures, I am now stronger than 92.5% of the UK population - that sounds a lot better than 25%!

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* The FIDE Elo / ECF conversion is calculated using standard formulae given by the British Chess Federation:
215 ECF and below : Elo = ( ECF * 5 ) + 1250
216 ECF and over : Elo = ( ECF * 8 ) + 600

If I’m going to get better at chess then I need a plan.

A plan that concentrates on the areas that will yield the biggest improvements in the shortest time seems most sensible, but what will help me improve fastest? To improve fastest it pays to work on improving the areas in which you are weakest, so no one plan of action will work for everyone as we have different strengths and weaknesses. However, compared to the grandmaster I have nothing but weaknesses, so it’s not a question of what to work on (as I need to work on everything), but what areas I need to prioritise.

At the lowly level at which I play, virtually all the games are decided by some relatively simple means such as hanging pieces, knight forks, removal of a defender and pins. When you realise this, it’s obvious that to progress to the next level tactics are the key. I can’t think of many of my games where I haven’t made a move that loses material (whether the opponent sees it or not), or where I’ve missed a chance to win material. If I had seen these the outcome could have been very different.

So it follows that the better I get at spotting tactics the more games that will be decided in my favour!

Studying other areas of the game can help (like openings and strategy), and may increase tactical opportunities available during your games but if you can’t convert those chances into a material advantage then all you are doing is delaying the inevitable.

Looks like I need to mainly concentrate on tactics then!

At last! My new Novag Citrine arrived yesterday. It’s what I expected it to be - fantastic! There are some initial shots below and I’ll give some feedback on it once I’ve had some time to play with it!

I saw this problem a few weeks ago and it made an impression on me so I thought I’d replicate it here. This position is a puzzle composed by William Reilly. White is to play and mate in two.

You have three attempts to find the solution before it is revealed (click on the pieces to move them). There are several moves that give mate in three but only one that gives mate in two.

I’ve only gone and ordered myself a Novag Citrine chess computer!

I’ll update you all when it arrives.

[Edit : Novag Citrine Review now posted]