European Ranks

This page gives an overview of ranking systems used by various national go associations around Europe. If you know about some countries not yet listed on this page, please add them. Also, if you spot any errors, please correct them.

Belgium

In Belgium all member's grades are regulated. The algorithm used and the ratings themselves can be found at http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~janr/go/ratings/ It takes all results into account submitted by a club responsible or tournament director. Club responsibles can ask for manual updates based on a number of observations, which are then ruled upon by a ranking committee.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is the home of the well-known EGF Rating System, and there it is strictly applied for giving promotions to any rank above 20k. In order to attain a new grade you must reach the nominal level for that rank, e.g. 2100 for 1d, but once you have reached it you may drop by up to 100 points without being demoted (an additional 50 point "cushion" for players weaker than 5k allows a drop of up to 150 points without being demoted). Local clubs can make exceptions (i.e. promotions not based on rating increases) up to around 7k, and the national association can also make exceptions in special cases.

Finland

In Finland there is a national grading committee which is in theory responsible for the rank of every go player in Finland. However, quite a bit of promotion ability is delegated, as follows (see here):

• Anyone can promote up to 8 kyu, including self-promotion.

• High-ranking players can promote anyone as follows:

1 kyu up to 8 kyu, 1 dan up to 6 kyu, 1 dan + 1 dan up to 4 kyu, 2 dan up to 3 kyu, 3 dan up to 2 kyu, 4 dan or 3 dan + 2 dan up to 1 kyu, 5 dan or 4 dan + 2 dan up to 1 dan, 3 dan + 3 dan + 3 dan or 5 dan + 3 dan up to 2 dan, 5 dan + 5 dan or 5 dan + 3 dan + 3 dan up to 3 dan, 5 dan + 5 dan + 3 dan or 5 dan + 3 dan + 3 dan + 3 dan to 4 dan or higher ranks.

• Each club also has a local grading committee which can give higher promotions within their own club, as follows: 4 kyu or 6 kyu + 6 kyu up to 8 kyu, 2 kyu or 4 kyu + 4 kyu up to 6 kyu, 1 kyu up to 5 kyu, 1 dan or 2 kyu + 2 kyu up to 4 kyu, 1 kyu + 1 kyu up to 3 kyu, 1 dan + 1 dan up to 2 kyu.

France

The French have their own rating list which is also based on the Elo Rating system. Players are generally expected to enter according to their rating, though some tournament directors will enforce this more strictly than others.

Germany

In Germany, there is no system. Anyone can give themselves a reasonable rank. Access to the preliminary of the German Championship, however, requires a minimal rating. Tournaments increasingly use EGF rating instead of self-declared rank, however.

Hungary

In Hungary there is a national grading system and hungarian players have national Elő-points. Anyone can promote up to 5k, including self-promotion but over 4k the ranks must perform twice according to grading system.

Ireland

In Ireland there is no system. Anyone can give themselves a reasonable rank.

Netherlands

Kyu grades are not regulated. Dan promotions are awarded by a rank committee based on tournament results. The promote to X dan, a player must win at least 50% of a sufficient quantity of tournament games against X dans. He must also in the same period score at least 67% againt X-1 dans and at least 33% against X+1 dans. wins or losses against other players are not used. The 'sufficient quantity' is fixed and gets larger for higher grades. It may be lowered by the rank committee in special cases (eg. young players rising very fast). The rank committee, as of 2013, is manned by Rudi Verhagen? 5d, Willem Koen Pomstra? 5d and Michiel Tel? 4d

Portugal

There is no formal system. Entry grades are chosen by the players (subject to the TD's agreement), and for subsequent tournaments the EGF grade is used.

Sweden

Ranks up to 2k are in theory awarded by local clubs. 1k and dan ranks must be earned by tournament results. The points system used for this is basically a more formalized version of the old BGA system. The points even out if you are halfway between your current rank and the next-higher one. If you do significantly better than this over a certain period, you are promoted. Specifically, to get to 1k you must have at least 13 consecutive games totalling +100 or more points, to get to 1d you must have at least 17 consecutive games totalling +150 or more points, and to get to 2d or higher you must have at least 20 consecutive games totalling +200 or more points. Specifically, the points you get, based on the rank you want to be promoted to, are:

• For a win against that rank or higher, +35.
• For a win against one rank lower, +25.
• For a win against two ranks lower, +10.
• For a loss against a lower rank, -35.
• For a loss against that rank, -25.
• For a loss against one rank higher, -10.
• For wins against even lower or losses against even higher ranks, 0.
• For a jigo, the mean of the points you would get for a win and a loss.

Note that the same game can be used for two separate promotions. An example and other information can be found here (in Swedish).

See also: http://web.comhem.se/~u37600781/go/rk/swrat.html for (possibly outdated) information.

Turkey

In Turkey there is no known system. Anyone can give themselves a reasonable rank.

United Kingdom

The British Go Association awards certificates to players of dan strength - kyu players are free to set their rank as they wish. Since December 2003, the promotions are based on the EGF ratings and what the BGA believes to be the average rating for a certain "strength". A description of how the BGA Grading Committee worked is also available online.