A complete database of international chess players and chess performance ratings for varied longitudinal studies

Abstract

Chess is an oft-used study domain in psychology and artificial intelligence because it is well defined, its performance rating systems allow easy identification of experts and their development, and chess playing is a complex intellectual task. However, usable computerized chess data have been very limited. The present article has two aims. The first is to highlight the methodological value of chess data and how researchers can use them to address questions in quite different areas. The second is to present a computerized database of all international chess players and official performance ratings beginning from the inaugural 1970 international rating list. The database has millions of records and gives complete longitudinal official performance data for over 60,000 players from 1970 to the present. Like a time series of population censuses, these data can be used for many different research and teaching purposes. Three quite different studies, conducted by the author using the database, are described.

Individual differences in expertise development over decades in a complex intellectual domain

“…All players who became grandmasters by July 2006 were identified from "g" in the title field (Howard, 2006). Date of obtaining the title was assigned as that of the first list in which "g" appeared.…”

“…The number of games played in a rating period has been tallied since July 1985. Howard (2006) and Elo give greater detail about ratings data and how ratings are calculated. Like almost all real-world data, the FIDE ratings data are a bit messy, and all values below should be seen as approximations (see Howard, 2006, for details).…”

“…The present study used a quite different approach from that of previous studies and a data set that overcomes most of those studies' difficulties. The study used population-level data from a recently available longitudinal data set of all international chess players (Howard, 2006). These data include objective performance ratings from a player's entry into the international domain, as well as an objective measure of actual practice: number of rated games.…”

Testing the accuracy of the retrospective recall method used in expertise research

“…Participants made estimates of three types of career data for which the true values are known. The first datum was their date of entry onto the international rating list (Howard, 2006), which could have occurred up to 38 years previously. List entry is an important career milestone and should be as significant as other career dates, such as that of starting serious practice or learning the chess moves.…”

“…FIDE initially issued one list a year, then two (in January and July), in 2000 issued three, and until 2009 issued four. Howard (2006) created a database that contains all FIDE rating data. The rating lists include all players active in international tournaments since 1970 who achieve and keep a minimum performance level.…”