Renju International Federation (R.I.F.)

INTERNATIONAL QUALIFICATION SYSTEM IN RENJU

  In order to inspire and encourage renjuplayers all over the
world to make good results in important Renju tournaments,
and in many cases distinguish players for qualification to inter-
national tournaments, an international system with internal ran-
kings between renjuplayers from the whole world is introduced.

#   1.   To achieve an estimation of quality of a players momen-
tal playing strength a system with individual coefficients (rating)
is used, an adapted variant of professor  A. Elo´s system.

#   2.  The official international rating coefficients for all renju-
players are calculated three times per year  -  April 30,  August 31,
and December 31 -  by the International Qualification Commission
in R.I.F.  
   The rating is based on results from individual games between
players in renju tournaments with direct play, and with a mini-
mum time access of 60 minutes per player and game, and with
no timelimit to watch before 60 minutes.
Following types of tournaments will entitle to international rating:

   - World Championships (WC) finals
   - International Qualification Tournaments for WC-finals
   - Open International Tournaments in connection with WC
   - National qualification tournaments for WC in R.I.F. member
     countries (though not the countries regional qualifications)
   - European Championships
   - Other open international renju tournaments, sanctioned by
     R.I.F. Central Commitee.
   - National Championships in R.I.F. member countries, final
     tournaments 
   - Some other important tournaments of national charactar,
     which the R.I.F. CC may decide to sanction, if those tourna-
     ments are open for all RIF players.

     Requests regarding sanctioning a national tournament must be 
made to CC, not later  then three months ahead of the tournament.
International tournaments must be announced in the official journal
"Renju World" or in other official R.I.F. periodical, or a special invita-
tion must be sent to all R.I.F. member countries, which is received
by the official R.I.F. predecessors in these countries not later then 
three months ahead of the tournaments.

#   3.  The qualification commissions in the R.I.F. member countries
must send a report, after each concluded tournament in their country
(which entitle the players to international rating), to the International 
Qualification Commission in R.I.F. about the results in tournaments 
according to  #2, which includes complete tables of all individual
results in these tournaments.  If this will not be done after three
months after the tournament the responsible federation ha to pay a
fee (20 usd).
   In December each year, a report is also given about players, who
are no longer members in the national renju federations, where after
ratings for these players are no longer published by R.I.F.
   Players from countries without a national renju federation
connected to R.I.F. can get rating from all tournaments in 2nd §
where they have the right to participate ( if not the R.I.F.  GA
or CC decides else). 

#   4.  Only tournaments, which are played according to the 
International Renjurules of R.I.F., can entitle players to an 
international rating. 
   Only results from games played in reality will be counted. 
A game is counted as "played in reality" and entitles both play-
ers to receive rating if somebody won the game or they agreed
to make a draw in the game (no "walk over"). If a break is made
in a game and one player does not appear when the play is 
about to continue, the game will be counted as "played in rea-
lity"  for both players regardless of which the referee´s decision
about the result in the game will be.

#   5.   In the beginning of a tournament the players have start 
ratings,  which are equal to their the current official rating coeffici-
ents.   After a tournament, which entitles the players to interna-
tional rating,  all contributions (positive or negative) to a given
players start rating coefficient are summed up.  All players total 
ratingcontributions in tournaments finished latest  April 30, August 31,
and December 31,  are summed  and added to their current official
rating, which give all players new official rating coefficients on the
given dates.
(see #8 about how this start rating is calculated for "new" players)

#   6.  The contribution (positive or negative) to a given players
start rating coefficient in a tournament is calculated as:

                        F  x (  Et  -  Ee )

   where  F  is equal to the total contribution (positive or negative)
               to a players start rating coefficient,
               C  is equal to  32   (e.g. the "ratingvalue" of one gained
               point on a renjugame),
               Et  is equal to  the total number of gained points by the 
               player in games, which entitle to rating in the tourna-
               ment,
               Ee  is equal to  the expected number of points,  which
               the player must achieve to receive no rating contributions 
               at all in the tournament. 

#   7.    To find  Ee  for a player,  a calculation is made:   

             Ee  N / ( 1 + 2^(dK/120))

   dK  (P(1) x K(1) + P(2) x K(2) + ....... + P(M) x K(M)) / N  - K

  where  dK  is equal to the difference between the average start
               rating coefficients for the opponents and the start rating
               coefficient for the player,
               ^   is a sign for exponent
               K  is equal to  the start rating coefficient for the player,
               P(1), P(2),..., P(M)  is equal to  the number of games the
               player has played against the respective opponents,
               K(1), K(2),..., K(M)  is equal to  the start rating coeffici-
               ents of the respective opponents,
               M  is equal to  the number of opponents,
               N  is equal to  the total number of games played in the
               tournament by the player.

After the calculation,  F  is rounded to the nearest interger.
(see the appendix for a table, which makes it easy to estimate the rating 
contributions
based on results in individulal games)


 #   8.a.   A "new" player, who has not earlier played in a tournament 
which, entitles to international rating, must play at least three games
in a tournament to be entitled to receive a start rating coefficient in
a tournament.  If a "new" player has played in such a tournament
before, but has not yet received an official international rating 
coefficient, his start rating in this tournament is equal to his start 
rating in the last previous tournament with the achieved rating 
contributions added.

b.   The "new" player,  will achieve a start rating coefficient  (K0),
which is inside the interwall  2000 - 2400 at his first appearance in 
a tournament, which entitles to international rating, if the average
rating  (Ka)  for all his opponents he has played with in the tourna-
ment  is 2200 or higher.  If  Ka  would be lower then 2200,  then  K0
is calculated in the interwall    (Ka - 200)  <K0  <Ka + 200).

c.     Though, a player who gains  0 points in a tournament in all mat-
ches against players, who have an official international rating coeffi-
cient, will not achieve a start rating in the tournament.  
No rating contributions, based on results in matches where both 
players do not have a start rating, will be calculated for either player 
in such matches. 

d.    The start ratings for the "new" players are calculated after all 
matches in a tournament are finished, and are based on results 
in the individual matches. 
     If one or several "new" players take part in a tournament, start
rating coefficients for these players must be calculated first, before 
the calculations of rating contributions for all players begin. 
    The "new" players are considered to have the same playing
strength in the beginning of the tournament as in the end of the
tournament. This means that the rating contribution to a "new" players
start rating must be  zero  as long as the start rating coefficients is
higher then the lowest rating in the interwall and lower then the 
highest rating in the interwall, according to point b.  If the start rating 
coefficient is set to the minimum level in the interwall, the player can
get a negative contributuion of rating points, and if the start rating 
coefficient is set to the maxumum level of the interwall the player 
can get a positive contribution of rating points.

   For the "new" players:    Ee  Et       and
 
   K0  (P(1) x K(1) + P(2) x K(2) + ....... + P(M) x K(M)) / N  - dK

   dK  120 x log2 (N / Ee - 1)

   where  log2  indicates the logaritm with the base 2.

   Though, K0 must be inside the interwall, according to point b.,
and the conditions in point c.  must by be paid attiontion to.
Rating contributions are calculated for all players in a tournament,
who are entitled to start ratings, according to the formulas in §6 & §7.

#   9.  A renju player, which due to different reasons has lost 
his official rating coefficient, can regain his old rating again
when his national renju federation approves.
   After five years absence of an internationally rated player,
from tournaments entiteling to international rating (according 
to #2), official RIF-rating is no longer published.  
Though, by renewed activity the player regains his old rating.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

Appendix
Table based on the formulas in #6 & #7 for an estimation of ratingcontributions
in individual games.

If a player having the start rating K1, has higher (or same rating) then a 
player with
the start rating K2, the rating contributions in a game rounded to an 
interger and
with different results in the game would be:

rating difference        K1 wins      K2 wins         draw
      0 -  10	   +  16	     +  16	              0
    11 -  32 	   +  15	    +  17              +  1
    33 -  54	   +  14	    +  18	           +  2
    55 -  76	   +  13	    +  19	           +  3
    77 - 100	   +  12	    +  20	           +  4
   101 - 124	   +  11	    +  21	           +  5
   125 - 149	   +  10	    +  22	           +  6
   150 - 176	   +   9	    +  23	           +  7
   177 - 204	   +   8	    +  24	           +  8
   205 - 236	   +   7	    +  25	           +  9
   237 - 272	   +   6	    +  26	          + 10
   273 - 313	   +   5	    +  27	          + 11
   314 - 363	   +   4	    +  28	          + 12
   364 - 427	   +   3	    +  29	          + 13
   428 - 521	   +   2	    +  30	          + 14
   522 - 724	   +   1	    +  31	          + 15
   725 -    	       0	    +  32	          + 16
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
R.I.F.  Qualification Commission
Bengt Asplund
Tre Liljor  6
S - 113 44  Stockholm,  Sweden

basp@algonet.se
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Decisions made by the R.I.F. GA in the meeting on May 2, 1996.
1.)    Calculations are made for a number of old tournaments (see
below), from August 1988 to April 1996, and the first Official Rating
List will be valid from 1 May 1996.
The list of old tournaments for the years 1988 -1996  to be inclu-
ded and counted in the process of the rating calculations is as below:

1988
Stockholm Summer Trophy
Meijin tournament & final    
4th Soviet Open team Championship
Swedish CS-final

1989
1st Soviet CS, 1st league
1st Soviet CS-final
Swedish WC Qual. final
Japan WC Qual.
WC-final
WC open tourn.
Meijin tournament & final
Federation Cup in USSR     
2nd Soviet CS, 1st league    
Swedish CS tournament

1990
Leningrad New Year Prize
Swedish CS tourn.
2nd Soviet CS-final
Open Soviet team CS
Karepa 
Swedish Open CS
Meijin tourn. & final
Tokyo Int. Tourn.
3rd Soviet CS, 1st league

1991
Leningrad New Year Prize     
3rd Soviet CS-final
Swedish CS tourn.
Japanese WC Qual.        
Swedish WC Qual.
WC-final
WC open tourn.
Baltic Cup in Riga 
Meijin tourn. & final
Tokyo Int. Tourn.     
4th Soviet CS, 1st league
Linköping Open tourn.
Tallin Int. tourn.

1992
S:t Peterburg New Year Prize
Latvia CS-final        
Swedish CS tourn.   
4th Soviet CS final   
Swedish Open in Arjeplog 
Karepa 
Meijin tourn. & final
Riga Independence Cup (Latvia Open)
Tokyo Int. tourn.
1st Russian CS, 1st league
S:t Peterburg New Year Prize

1993
1st Russian CS-final
Latvia CS final    
Latvia WC Qual.
Armenia CS final      
Swedish CS tourn.
Estonia WC Qual.     
Karepa 
Japanese WC Qual.
Swedish WQ Qual.
Int. WC Qual. tourn.
WC-final
WC open tourn.
Meijin tourn. & final    
2nd Russian CS, 1st league
Tallin New Year Prize

1994
2nd Russian CS final
Swedish CS tourn.
European Team CS
Latvia CS final      
Karepa         
Kyoto Memorial Int. tourn.
Armenia CS final    
Meijin tourn. & final    
3rd Russian CS, 1 st league
1st European CS in Tallin

1995
3rd Russian CS final   
Swedish CS tourn.
Latvia CS finals    
Baltic league      
Japanese WC Qual.  
Swedish  WC  Qual.  
Latvian  WC  Qual.    
Int. WC Qual. tourn.  
WC-final      
WC open tourn.    
Armenia CS final    
Meijin tourn. & final    
4th Russian CS, 1st league   
2nd European CS in S:t Peterburg    

1996
4th Russian CS final    
Latvia CS finals     
Swedish CS final

( "CS"  means  Championships, "WC" is World Championships)
 
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 2.)    In a few tournaments results are still not gathered (or incomp-
lete)  by QC.  
   If it is impossible to get complete results from these tourna-
ments before the end of May 1996, these tournaments will be
excluded from the rating calculations.

3.)   The rule in  #8c.  will not be used when calculating rating
contributions in tournaments played earlier then 1996.  Also, the
minimum time access in games played in tournaments before
1996  is only 45 minutes / player.

4.)   Such national tournaments as the yearly first league of Russia,
the Baltic league and qualification tournaments ahead of Meijin tournament 
may be such tournaments to be sactioned by RIF CC.
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RIF GA  in S:t Petersburg
May  2,   1996