Ratings Tip - What 12 months?

One of the more common questions we receive about ratings is why old rounds from the previous year have not yet dropped from your rating calculation. Many newer players think we use your rounds that only go back 12 months from the date of each ratings update. Seems to make sense, right? 

Aaah, but there's a catch. If we did that, the rounds used for a player's rating would gradually disappear and eventually be gone if they stopped playing tournaments for just one year. So to prevent that, the ratings have always been done using rated rounds that are within 12 months of the exact date of each player's most recently rated round.

Bill's most recently rated round is Sept 14, 2013 even though we're about to do the yearend 2013 final ratings in February. This February ratings update will still use his rounds that go back to Sept 15, 2012. It just so happens that Bill's favorite event is on that same weekend every year. His rating will not change and continue to include rounds from the same event held on Sept 15th in 2012 and Sept 14th in 2013 until he plays a new rated round.

Jill's most recently rated round is July 13, 2013. Even though that date is two months earlier than Bill's, Jill didn't have any rated rounds in 2012 after July 13. So her rating only includes the ten rated rounds she played in 2013.

Each time we post a ratings update, check your Rating Details tab. Look the date of your most recently rated round and count back 365 days (366 in leap year) to see if only rounds in that time period are displayed. We only go back more than 365 days if you have fewer than 8 rated rounds in that previous 365 days.