Gradings

There’s been a longer than usual gap between grading lists, because I was concerned that too many grades were based on too few results, and I wanted to use a longer base period for the new list. The new grades are based on 909 results reported between EP847 and EP864. As in the previous list, anyone with fewer than 15 results has a grade based partly on their previous (2005) results. All the quoted grades are based on a minimum of 5 results, but well over half the grades are based on more than 10 results from this period. Congratulations to Vivian Jones, replacing Peter Catt at the top of the heap after a very strong series of results.

I’m in the process of establishing a new system which will give a continuously updated grading, so there will be no need to wait for a whole new list to see how your results ae improving – or not! Once that is up and running we will probably print an annual list, but I hope to keep an up to date list on the website.

If anyone wants to know which results their grading is based on, and how the final figure is calculated, I can provide individual records by e-mail, or send me a SAE. This includes members not listed, who may have played too few games to produce a meaningful grade. I can also provide details of the system I’ve used to anyone who’s interested – though “system” might be stretching things a bit far!

Because the grades are based solely on games within the club, there is no guarantee that they are equivalent to any external grades. You shouldn’t quote them as evidence of playing strength for other competitions. As I wrote last time, I would like to benchmark our grades against other systems, postal or OTB, and to do this I would need as many members as possible who have “external” grades to let me know how those compare to Natcor grades. If 30 or so members were willing to do so, I think I could work out a reasonable reliable “exchange rate”. Contact me if you have a grade you are willing to disclose!

One final note of caution. Any grading is fairly arbitrary, depending on the strength of opponents you happen to play, as much as your results against them. Almost half the players listed have less than ten results during the period, further reducing accuracy. I would suggest that differences between grades of less than 50 points are fairly unhelpful as a guide to relative playing strength, and even larger differences will sometimes be misleading.

NAME	2006/2007	2004/2005	2003/2004	2002
Ackerley, Les	1634	1829	2171	2299
Ackley, Peter	1984	1999	1982	1904
Allport, Andy	1845	1751	1854	1859
Arney, Anthony	1811	1791	1956	1870
Ayres, Jim	1935	-	-	-
Bailey, Stephen	2076	2165	2033	1921
Banks, Geoff	1840	1929	1954	1924
Barrett, Gordon	2005	1974	1960	1960
Beresford, Alan	2195	-	-	-
Bickley, Charles	1592	1724	1730	1718
Birch, Owen	1883	1814	1676	1676
Blackwell, Eric	1662	-	-	-
Borg, Spiro	1956	-	-	-
Brown, Julian	1908	1716	-	-
Bush, Freddie	2008	1987	-	-
Butcher, Doug	2046	2083	-	-
Callow, Chris	2197	2215	1958	1860
Catt, Peter	2226	2236	2173	2173
Caulkett, Peter	2063	1781	1864	1906
Chamberlain, Andy	2193	2194	2081	2101
Clements, Michael	2101	-	-	-
Cope, Jerry	1828	1885	1894	1894
Coyne, Dave	2199	2145	2069	1994
Cranmer, Stan	1960	1958	1886	1822
Davey, Alan	2131	-	-	-
Davies, Barry	1875	1836	1865	1865
Dawkins, John	2126	2040	1986	1759
Donovan, John	1878	-	-	-
Douglas, Craig	1970	1816	1702	1661
Dowell, Chris	1738	1882	1837	1837
Drury, Phil	1918	2022	1891	1740
Elwood, David	1970	1758	1897	1867
Evans, David	1903	1872	1949	1949
Finch, John	1751	1766	1846	1956
Foran,Jim	2020	2103	2016	2016
Frith David	1678	-	-	-
Frith, Ron	1933	2057	1906	1889
Garvock, Jim	2134	1843	2008	1857
Goodwin, Brian	2115	2075	1994	1994
Hardy, David	2222	2048	1959	2009
Hipwell, Colin	1638	1681	1822	1863
Hurley, Karen	1632	-	-	-
Hutton, Harry	1661	1813	1750	1812
Iles, Stuart	1925	2017	1896	1812
Jones, Bryan	1794	1625	1757	1919
Jones, Chris	1786	1912	1829	1829
Jones, Vivian	2276	2154	2002	2002
King, Norman	1661	1619	1779	1717
Knowles, Alan	2114	2152	2081	2081
Martin, Chris	1832	1621	1750	1777
Mason, Ian	2146	2052	1830	1969
McCrudden, Bob	1926	1946	1937	-
McGuigan, Michael	1865	1806	1903	1725
McGuire, Peter	1659	1557	1792	1792
Mill-Wilson, Graham	1764	1906	1866	1889
Murphy, Eamon	1815	1924	1907	1718
Neil, Charles	1591	-	-	-
Oliver, Robert	2073	1985	1959	1752
Pattrick, Graham	2060	-	-	-
Paul, John	2037	1855	1844	1844
Perrygrove, Colin	2048	2041	1912	1738
Pomeroy, Ray	1929	2054	1970	2024
Pooley, Mark	1987	1967	-	-
Preston, Ken	2131	2007	1839	1918
Richardson, Dave	1743	1799	1874	1978
Richardson, Keith	2092	1945	1962	1880
Rixon, Anthony	1949	-	-	-
Sawdon, Dennis	2094	2030	2000	-
Senior, Lee	1652	1687	1825	1855
Sheriff, Ron	1925	1784	1833	1950
Steed, Michael	1712	-	-	-
Steiner-Goldberg, Shaun	1594	1744	-	-
Sutton, Alan	2016	2112	2020	2038
Tabor, Jim	1609	1581	1785	1785
Taggart, William	1844	1959	1910	1910
Truelove, Colin	2161	2193	1946	1914
Tupper, Alex	2085	1984	1774	1686
Upton, Robert	1753	1847	1802	1701
Wakeham, Marc	1857	1864	1943	1896
Walker, John	1769	1725	1780	1831
Warren, Stan	1758	1921	1754	1773
Waters, Roger	1834	1847	1787	1787
West, Bob	1700	1781	1762	1762
White, John	1825	1803	1720	1600
Wilson, Aaron	1715	1954	-	-
Wood, Michael	1970	-	-	-
Wusteman, Fred	1917	1802	1795	-

2007 Gradings - rank order
Jones, Vivian	2276
Catt, Peter	2226
Hardy, David	2222
Coyne, Dave	2199
Beresford, Alan	2197
Callow, Chris	2197
Chamberlain, Andy	2193
Truelove, Colin	2161
Mason, Ian	2146
Garvock, Jim	2134
Davey, Alan	2131
Preston, Ken	2131
Dawkins, John	2126
Goodwin, Brian	2115
Knowles, Alan	2114
Clements, Michael	2101
Sawdon, Dennis	2094
Richardson, Keith	2092
Tupper, Alex	2085
Bailey, Stephen	2076
Oliver, Robert	2073
Caulkett, Peter	2063
Pattrick, Graham	2060
Perrygrove, Colin	2048
Butcher, Doug	2046
Paul, John	2037
Foran, Jim	2020
Sutton, Alan	2016
Bush, Freddie	2008
Barrett, Gordon	2005
Pooley, Mark	1987
Ackley, Peter	1984
Douglas, Craig	1970
Elwood, David	1970
Wood, Michael	1970
Cranmer, Stan	1960
Borg, Spiro	1956
Rixon, Anthony	1949
Ayres, Jim	1935
Frith, Ron	1933
Pomeroy, Ray	1929
McCrudden, Bob	1926
Iles,Stuart	1925
Sheriff, Ron	1925
Drury, Phil	1918
Wusteman, Fred	1917
Brown, Julian	1908
Evans, David	1903
Birch, Owen	1883
Donovan, John	1878
Davies, Barry	1875
McGuigan, Michael	1865
Wakeham, Marc	1857
Allport, Andy	1845
Taggart, William	1844
Banks, Geoff	1840
Waters, Roger	1834
Martin, Chris	1832
Cope, Jerry	1828
White, John	1825
Murphy, Eamon	1815
Arney, Anthony	1811
Jones, Bryan	1794
Jones, Chris	1786
Walker, John	1769
Mill-Wilson, Graham	1764
Warren, Stan	1758
Upton, Robert	1753
Finch, John	1751
Richardson, Dave	1743
Dowell, Chris	1738
Wilson, Aaron	1715
Steed, Michael	1712
West, Bob	1700
Frith, David	1678
Blackwell, Eric	1662
Hutton, Harry	1661
King, Norman	1661
McGuire, Peter	1659
Senior, Lee	1652
Hipwell, Colin	1638
Ackerley, Les	1634
Hurley, Karen	1632
Tabor, Jim	1609
Steiner-Goldberg, Shaun	1594
Bickley, Charles	1592
Neil, Charles	1591
Jenkins, Kevin	1478

Natcor Grading List 2006/2007