Games involving unrated players

[dominicgaj]

I look after unofficial ratings for the Ballarat Chess Club (Blitz and Rapid) to help with club tournament rankings. I am interested in finding out how games are dealt with from a rating point of view when the match includes one (or two) unrated players.

It is my understanding that an unrated player will be assigned a rating once the player has played 9 rated games (and has scored at least 1/2 pt in those games). It is also my understand that this initial rating will be their peformance rating for those matches played. (If I am incorrect in this statement, I welcome correction).

However, it is the players who play against an unrated player I am unsure about. If a rated player plays an unrated player is the result (for the rated player) ignored from their point of view (win, lose or draw)? If it is not ignored, how do you decide the rating of the player (currently unrated) that the rated player played against?

Maybe this is best illustrated by an some examples:

John Smith (Rated 1600) plays Fred Citizen (currently unrated). This is Fred's first rated game. If John Smith wins, Fred has played a game and lost against a 1600 player, so that counts as a rated game (loss) for Fred. John, however, has to ignore this game for his ratings as Fred hadn't played a rated game (before playing John). Is this a correct conclusion?

A variation to the above example:

John Smith (Rated 1600) plays Fred Citizen (currently unrated). This is Fred's second rated game. If John Smith wins, Fred has played a game and lost against a 1600 player, so that counts as a rated game (loss) for Fred. Fred's first rated game, however, was also loss against a 1400 rated player. John, however, has to ignore this game for his ratings as Fred hadn't scored a result (win or draw) against a rated player before playing John. Is this a correct conclusion?

Third variation:

John Smith (Rated 1600) plays Fred Citizen (currently unrated). This is Fred's third rated game. If John Smith wins, Fred has played a game and lost against a 1600 player, so that counts as a rated game (loss) for Fred. Fred's first rated game was also loss against a 1400 rated player, but his second rated game was a win against a 1400 rated player. John, however, has to ignore this game for his ratings as Fred hasn't played 9 rated games yet. Is this a correct conclusion?

Divergent scenario:

Games played between two unrated players are totally ignored from a ratings point of view, irrespective of any previous performances they may have against other rated players. Is this a correct conclusion?

This is all very complex, I know. I hope I have explained the scenarios clearly.

If anybody has any thoughts or can clarify the above, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Gletsos]

There are two cases:
1) If the "unrated" opponent is listed as xg on the master file list then the system will use the internal rating it has for the player in calculations against both rated and unrated opponents.

2) If the "unrated" opponent is not on the master list or is listed as "unr" or "new" then the rating used will be based on their performance during the entire rating period. However the player will not have a rating calculated if they scored 0% or 100%. This affects both rated and unrated opponents.

[dominicgaj]

Thanks very much, Bill. This gives me what I need to complete my task