Wednesday, September 12, 2007

USCL Power Rankings, Week 3

So, I've decided to follow the crowd, and create power rankings for the United States Chess League. There are others that have power rankings, but my rankings have no subjective elements -- they are completely objective.

The formula for computing them is a combination of Match Points and Game Points of a team, and to a lesser extent the MPs and GPs of the team's opponents (strength of schedule), and to an even lesser extent, the MPs and GPs of the team's opponents' opponents. These are combined to produce a raw score. The best team is given a final indexed score of 1.000 and other teams are given a lower final score, depending on the ratio of their calculated raw score to the best team's raw score.

So, without further ado, here are my power rankings for the teams in the United States Chess League after the conclusion of Week 3.

1 - Boston Blitz 1.000
2 - Dallas Destiny 0.855
3 - Seattle Sluggers 0.823
4 - San Francisco Mechanics 0.808
5 - Carolina Cobras 0.753
6 - Philadelphia Inventors 0.742
7 - Baltimore Kingfishers 0.670
8 - New Jersey Knockouts 0.636
9 - Queens Pioneers 0.589
10 - Tennessee Tempo 0.539
11 - New York Knights 0.535
12 - Miami Sharks 0.472

Note that there is a wide gap between the first place Boston Blitz (1.000) and the second place Dallas Destiny (0.855), but a very narrow gap between the tenth place Tennessee Tempo (0.539) and the eleventh place New York Knights (0.535).

Unsurprisingly, the Blitz remain in first place with their convincing win over Philly. The Dallas Destiny moves up to second place, rising in the rankings. The New Jersey Knockouts remain close to eighth place for the third week in a row. And, the preseason favorite New York Knights have escaped the basement, which now is occupied by the Miami Sharks.

I've retrofitted power rankings for week 2. I've also done week 1, but there is too little data to make accurate predictions.

Week 2

1 - Boston Blitz 1.000
2 - San Francisco Mechanics 0.944
3 - Dallas Destiny 0.905
4 - Philadelphia Inventors 0.864
5 - Seattle Sluggers 0.792
6 - Carolina Cobras 0.775
7 - Baltimore Kingfishers 0.666
8 - New Jersey Knockouts 0.666
9 - Queens Pioneers 0.647
10 - Tennessee Tempo 0.614
11 - Miami Sharks 0.497
12 - New York Knights 0.468

Week 1

1 - 3
San Francisco Mechanics 1.000
1 - 3
Dallas Destiny 1.000
1 - 3
Baltimore Kingfishers 1.000
4 - 5
Boston Blitz 0.967
4 - 5
Philadelphia Inventors 0.967
6 - 7
Queens Pioneers 0.800
6 - 7
New Jersey Knockouts 0.800
8 - 9
Miami Sharks 0.633
8 - 9
Seattle Sluggers 0.633
10 - 12
Carolina Cobras 0.600
10 - 12
Tennessee Tempo 0.600
10 - 12
New York Knights 0.600


(Full disclosure: I am the team writer for the New Jersey Knockouts, although as I've said, the power rankings above have no subjective elements.)

1 comment:

Ed Scimia said...

I like it! Very similar to the RPI so often referenced in NCAA basketball around tournament time.