XG Ratings

The following explanatory note on XG ratings has kindly been provided by Maureen Pratchett:

The purpose of applying handicaps on Monday is to level the playing field, not to punish the good players as some might think.

There are many ways we could calculate handicaps – average scores (which has been used previously) and NZ Bridge rating points to name two ways. We are trialling a different way on Mondays for 3 months as it appears to be fairer than both of these and is easily applied. It is called the XG system. An awful name, but that is what Compass calls it.

Each week Compass calculates an XG rating (a percent score) for every player which is based on all of their previous playing history. Average players will have an XG of around 50. Very good players will have a rating in the high 50s. Novice players who have no previous playing history are given a default value of 40. A player’s XG rating will therefore adjust from week to week.

The XG handicap is dynamically-calculated for each session based on a pair’s average XG rating and the average XG rating of all their opponents during that session.

For example, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 40 and the average of your opponents is 48, you will get a handicap of +8 for that session – to level the field. Similarly, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 54 and your opponents have an average rating of 46, you will get a handicap of -8 for that session.

For any (say) NS pair, the opponents they play against may be different from other NS pairs. For example, if there are fewer rounds being played than there are tables, the players who NS1 do not meet will be different than the players who NS3 do not meet. Therefore, even if NS1 and NS3 have the same average XG rating, the average of their opponents may be different, thus resulting in different handicaps.

Any member can go to website https://mycompasss.com (note 3s’s) to see their playing history and their current XG rating. Go to NGS in the top menu, then XG listings. Then you can put your surname in the Search box. You can log in as a guest or create your own login ID for the website.

Current XG Ratings for Waikanae Bridge Club members may be found by scrolling the list below.

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The full spreadsheet is available here.  It will be updated monthly.

If you wish to check your own rating (or that of any other member) at any time go to https://mycompasss.com/xg/xg.php and enter the relevant search query.