Echesspedia

EAST INDIAN DEFENCE

Line which deviated to the Nimzo-Indian E00:1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6

ÉCHECS

French name for chess.

ECHIQUIER, L’

Belgian chess magazine which was edited by Edmond Lancel from 1925 till 1939. It was the first magazine to introduce the figurine algebraic notation. The magazine was famous for the high quality of collaborators who were regularly writing like Alexander Alekhine, Savielly Tartakower and André Chéron.

ECHIQUIER BELGE
Famous Belgian magazine for problemists and correspondence chess players edited in Belgium since 1942. Today Luc Palmas is the chief editor. The electronic version can be found at http://www.ebbs.be/menu.html.

ECHO

A type of chess problem (mating or winning) where two or more defenses illustrate the same theme.

E.C.O.

Abbreviation for Encyclopaedia of Chess Opening. The first Informant Chess Encyclopedia was released in the middle of the 70’s by Aleksandar Matanović and his team. There are five volumes covering the full ECO code. The 4th edition was in sale in 2003.

ECO code

The actual opening classification was developed in the middle of 1980’s. The full opening repertoire is divided in 5 groups of 100 codes each: A- contains the irregular openings, the Reti, English, Benoni systems and Dutch Defence; B- contains the semi-open games including the Caro-Kann, the French and the Sicilian. C-contains the open games with the King Gambit, Petroff and Spanish Opening; D-contains the closed games with Queen’s Gambit, Slave and Gruenfeld and finally E- contains the Indian systems with the Catalan, Nimzo-Indian, Queen’s Indian and King’s Indian

ECONOMY

A term used in chess composition or chess solving. It means that every piece must contribute towards the solution, through not necessarily in the main line.

EDGE

The first rank and last rank of the chessboard and the column A and H.

EDGEHOG

A fairy chess piece invented by John Driver in 1966 that move like a Queen but must always begin or end a move at the edge of the board. The piece is represented on diagrams by a Queen that has been rotated one quarter-turn anti-clockwise.

ELEMENTAL PIECE

In Fairy chess, a chess piece having of a single move option that is kaleidoscopically reflected over eight equal facets. Examples of elemental pieces are the Wazir, the Ferz, the Dabbaba, the Alfil, the Knight, the Camel, the Zebra and the Giraffe.

ELEPHANT

A fairy chess or Chinese chess piece. A (2,2) leaper, but it cannot jump over an intervening piece, like the mao. In Chinese Chess, the elephant is restricted to its half of the board.

ELO RATING or FIDE RATING

The method of rating chess players used for all international tournaments and by many national bodies. It was taken from a scale previously used by the United States Chess Federation, based on the premises that a rating of 2000 would be equivalent to scoring 50% in a US Open Championship and that no player’s rating would be negative. The standard deviation is set at 200 points, and this span embraces those who are perceived as players of the same class. International Grandmasters are typically in the range 2500-2700 and world champions often higher. International Masters are mostly between 2300 and 2500. The scale is uniform across its range: a player at 1800 can expect to beat one at 1600 by same margin (about 3:1) as a player at 2600 matched against one at 2400. Before their match in 1972 Fischer and Spassky had ratings of 2785 and 2675 respectively, which suggested that Fischer would win 13:7. The actual result was 121/2 : 71/2 excluding the defaulted game. And so Fischer’s rating went down slightly and Spassky’s rose.

The calculations behind a change of rating, and the proof of the calculation, are too technical to be included here. There is no elementary algebraic formula, but the method of making the change is quite simple, the subtleties being concealed in two tables. Because a player can score only 100 %, 50%, or 0 % from one game, many games must be played before an Elo rating can be estimated with reasonable confidence. Statistics experts believe that 30 or more games are needed, but some organizations give ratings after 20 games. The FIDE TITLE system is founded on Elo rating, TOURNAMENT CATEGORY and NORM.

The system works acceptably when used as intended, but has been criticized on some counts. For example, there is no mechanism for detecting any change in the overall “value” of points, let alone correcting it, and this renders meaningless comparisons between players in different periods. An attempt was made by the Canadian player Nathan Joseph Divinsky (1925-), a professor of mathematics, to add further calculations to enable such comparisons be made, but the statistical method has not satisfied everyone, and the resulting “league table” has coincided with the opinion of few strong players. (Hooper D. and Whyld K.)

FIDE Rating History

On January 2002 the total number of rated players reached 40697. Number of titled players – 7289 including: GM – 770, WGM – 189, IM – 2209, WIM – 392.

By July 2010 Garry Kasparov has been leading the men’s list 23 times and Judith Polgar 40 times the women’s list.

1971 July. 1. B. Fischer USA 2760, 2. B. Spassky USSR 2690, 3. V Korchnoi USSR 2670, 4. B. Larsen DEN 2660, 5. T. Petrosian USSR 2640, 6. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2640, 7. M. Botvinnik USSR 2630, 8. L. Portisch HUN 2630, 9. M. Tal USSR 2620, 10. V. Smyslov USSR 2620.

1972 July. 1. B. Fischer USA 2785, 2. B. Spassky USSR 2660, 3. T. Petrosian USSR 2665, 4. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2645, 5. L. Portisch HUN 2640, 6. V. Korchnoi USSR 2640, 7. M. Botvinnik USSR 2630, 8. A. Karpov USSR 2630, 9. B. Larsen DEN 2625, 10. M. Tal USSR 2625.

1973 July. 1. B. Fischer USA 2785, 2. A. Karpov USSR 2660, 3. M. Tal USSR 2660, 4. B. Spassky USSR 2655, 5. V. Korchnoi USSR 2650, 6. L. Portisch HUN 2650, 7. T. Petrosian USSR 2640, 8. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2625, 9. B. Larsen DEN 2620, 10. V. Smyslov USSR 2610.

1974 May. 1. B. Fischer USA 2780, 2. A. Karpov USSR 2700, 3. V. Korchnoi USSR 2670, 4. B. Spassky USSR 2650, 5. L. Portisch HUN 2645, 6. T. Petrosian USSR 2640, 7. M. Tal USSR 2635, 8. B. Larsen DEN 2630, 9. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2630, 10. L. Kavalek USA 2625.

1975 January. 1. B. Fischer USA 2780, 2. A. Karpov USSR 2705, 3. V. Korchnoi USSR 2665, 4. T. Petrosian USSR 2645, 5. M. Tal USSR 2645, 6. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2645, 7. L. Portisch HUN 2635, 8. B. Spassky USSR 2625, 9. B. Larsen DEN 2625, 10. V.Smyslov USSR 2605.

1976 January. 1.A. Karpov USSR 2695, 2. V. Korchnoi USSR 2670, 3. T. Petrosian USSR 2635, 4. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2635, 5. B. Spassky USSR 2630, 6. B. Larsen DEN 2625, 7. L. Portisch HUN 2625, 8. E. Geller USSR 2620, 9. M.Tal USSR 2615, V. Hort CSR 2600.

1976 July. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2690, 2. V. Korchnoi USSR 2645, 3. T. Petrosian USSR, 2645, 4. M. Botvinnik USSR 2630, 5. L. Portisch HUN 2625, 6. M Tal USSR 2620, 7. V. Hort CSR 2620, 8. L Polugaevsky USSR 2620, 9. B Larsen DEN 2615, 10. B. Spassky USSR 2610.

1977 January. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2690, 2. V. Korchnoi USSR 2645, 3. T. Petrosian USSR 2645, 4. E. Mecking BRA 2635, 5. L. Portisch HUN 2625, 6. M. Tal USSR 2620, 7. V. Hort CSR 2620, 8. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2620, 9. B. Larsen DEN 2615, 10. B. Spassky USSR 2610.

1977 July. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2725, 2. V. Korchnoi USSR 2665, 3. M. Botvinnik USSR 2630, 4. L. Portisch HUN 2630, 5. B. Spassky USSR 2630, 6. M Tal USSR 2625, 7. T. Petrosian USSR 2620, 8. V. Hort CSR 2620, 9. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2620, 10. B. Larsen DEN 2620.

1978 January. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2725, 2. V. Korchnoi 2665, 3. B. Spassky USSR 2630, 4. L. Portisch HUN 2630, 5. E. Mecking BRA 2630, 6. M. Tal USSR 2625, 7. V. Hort CSR 2620, 8. T. Petrosian USSR 2620, 9. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2620, 10. B. Larsen DEN 2620.

1978 July. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2705, 2. V. Korchnoi 2695, 3. L. Portisch HUN 2640, 4. B. Spassky USSR 2640, 5. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2625, 6. J.Timman NED 2625, 7. B. Larsen DEN 2620, 8. E. Mecking BRA 2615, 9. M. Tal USSR 2615, 10. T. Petrosian USSR 2610.

1979 January. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2705, 2. V. Korchnoi SUI 2695, 3. L. Portisch HUN 2640, 4. B. Spassky USSR 2640, 5. L. Polugaevsky USSR 2625, 6. J. Timman NED 2625, 7. B. Larsen DEN 2620, 8. E. Mecking BRA 2615, 9. M. Tal USSR 2615, 10. T. Petrosian USSR 2610.

1979 July. 1. A. Karpov USSR 2725, 2. M. Tal USSR 2705, 3. V. Korchnoi SUI 2695, 4. L. Portisch HUN 2655, 5. L.Polugaevsky USSR 2635, 6. T. Petrosian USSR 2615, 7. E. Mecking BRA 2615, 8. B. Spassky USSR 2615, 9. J. Timman NED 2600, 10 R. Hubner FRG 2600.