"Computerised Player Ratings for Two Contestant Games"

.. merges two documents that were written in October/November 1981.

Stop Press: The algorithm has been enhanced and updated. A description is available here and a Linux version of the program can be downloaded here.

The original documents were written to describe a program which calculated player ratings for a local squash club. One documented the system from the perspective of a club member, the other provided a reasonably rigorous mathematical expression of the problem and the method adopted for its solution.

This version represents a complete re-write, but the example is based on the original data. The 1981 programs were written in complied Pascal for CP/M. The algorithm was completely re-written in 1990 (for other purposes), was converted to Borland C++ in 1995 and has been further re-written in 2005.

The original system worked, although the hardware and software of the time meant that more "shoehorning" effort was needed and execute times were long.

For reasons essentially unconnected with its performance, it was not adopted and the project stalled.

It is published on here:

• because the Web removes much of the hassle in making it available.
• in case anyone out there is interested.
• to solicit comment from others who might have built something similar.

Click here to read "Computerised Player Ratings for Two Contestant Games"