2200+ Percentage

[Andy Shaw]

Hi,

What percentage of chess players have the title of "National Master".

Thank you. :)

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

It depends on your definition of "chess players". Do you mean CFC-rated players (members or not); players rated under any system; Canada only; worldwide; or anyone who knows how to move the pieces?

[Andy Shaw]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

It depends on your definition of "chess players". Do you mean CFC-rated players (members or not); players rated under any system; Canada only; worldwide; or anyone who knows how to move the pieces?

Worldwide and CFC-rated would be nice!

[Roger Patterson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

Worldwide and CFC-rated would be nice!

your question is still ambiguous but maybe you would be interested in the graphs here: http://www.victoriachess.com/cfc/dist_summary.php which would give a percentage of ~2%

[Andy Shaw]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

your question is still ambiguous but maybe you would be interested in the graphs here: http://www.victoriachess.com/cfc/dist_summary.php which would give a percentage of ~2%

I remember reading somewhere a couple of years ago that only 1% of chess players have a rating over 2000.

[Roger Patterson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

I remember reading somewhere a couple of years ago that only 1% of chess players have a rating over 2000.

As Hugh says, you really need to define what you mean by "chess players".

If the question you want to answer is: If you stop someone randomly on the street, and if they know how to play chess - what is the probability that they are of strength 2000 or higher, that number is probably very, very small. Maybe 0.1% (number of people who know how to play in Canada is of order 20,000,000; at a guess maybe 20,000 or so are expert strength).

If the question you want to answer is: at a 'serious' chess tournament, what fraction of the players are 2000 strength or higher, that number is much higher (it was 37% at this year's Canadian Open) (this begs the question of what is a 'serious' chess tournament)

If the question you want to answer is what fraction people who have played in the last year in a CFC rated event are that strength or higher, then the graph I gave you answers that question. (more or less, it's problematic because of the uneven rating of low level juniors across the country)

[Andy Shaw]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

Thanks Roger.

Is there a way I can look on the CFC website and look at all the players, and filter the players between 0-2200 then 2200+ and then simply count and divide?

[Roger Patterson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

Thanks Roger.

Is there a way I can look on the CFC website and look at all the players, and filter the players between 0-2200 then 2200+ and then simply count and divide?

You could use the TD list: (which gives every player who has ever been rated, so you would want to filter probably by membership expiry date as well.) The conversion of the TD list to an Excel file is somewhat annoying, not all the rows have the same number of deliminters so you will have to go through the data a couple of times to fix things.

You can find that file at: http://www.chess.ca/sites/default/files/tdlist.txt

[Roger Patterson]

ps

Thanks Roger.

Is there a way I can look on the CFC website and look at all the players, and filter the players between 0-2200 then 2200+ and then simply count and divide?

another way of getting similar information would be to go to the USCF rating site and look up the rating of someone you know is ~2200. Their rating report will list their rank and percentile. Not sure how the USCF is calculating this though (current members, all players, active players only?) so if you want a precise definition, maybe it's not what you want.

[Louis Morin]

Re : Re: 2200+ Percentage

Is there a way I can look on the CFC website and look at all the players, and filter the players between 0-2200 then 2200+ and then simply count and divide?

1007 players are currently FQE members. 30 players have a 2200+ rating, and another 17 players had a 2200+ rating in the past but are now below 2200.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

... If the question you want to answer is: If you stop someone randomly on the street, and if they know how to play chess - what is the probability that they are of strength 2000 or higher, that number is probably very, very small. Maybe 0.1% (number of people who know how to play in Canada is of order 20,000,000; at a guess maybe 20,000 or so are expert strength). ...

I would be shocked if there were even 2000 players in Canada who would be 2000+ strength (i.e. could maintain a rating in OTB standard tournament chess of 2000 or greater). What would make you think the number is so large?

[Roger Patterson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

I would be shocked if there were even 2000 players in Canada who would be 2000+ strength (i.e. could maintain a rating in OTB standard tournament chess of 2000 or greater). What would make you think the number is so large?

well, I wanted to give an upper limit. But as to 2000 such players, there are ~2200 names in the TD list with that rating or higher. Of course, some of them are dead or foreign but then again, it doesn't include any number of people who haven't played in the CFC for one reason or another (e.g. people who used to play and emigrated to Canada but did not play here.)

For what it's worth, chess.com has roughly 6500 such players listed as Canadian (I know, the rating scale is probably suspect and not the same...) Throw in some more from other servers (ok, there are some duplicates) and it's pretty clear that the number of players in Canada of OTB tournament chess standard of 2000 rating is well above 2000 players.

[Andy Shaw]

Re: ps

another way of getting similar information would be to go to the USCF rating site and look up the rating of someone you know is ~2200. Their rating report will list their rank and percentile. Not sure how the USCF is calculating this though (current members, all players, active players only?) so if you want a precise definition, maybe it's not what you want.

I like this idea. A+

[James Williamson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

:)En Passant Aug 1990 lists 154 players
with a rating starting at 2100.Kevin
Spraggett at 2592 and Tom O'Donnell
at 2481.Those were the top two players
back then.I think todays list has only
the top 20 players;)

[Roger Patterson]

Re: 2200+ Percentage

For what it's worth, chess.com has roughly 6500 such players.....

scrap that number - I misinterpted one of their graphs.