The self-justifying Elo rating system

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modified Elo rating system that uses a fixed point approach for rating adjustments, resulting in more natural behavior and several advantages over the classical system.

Contribution

It proposes a novel fixed point method for rating updates in the Elo system, enhancing its naturalness and practical benefits.

Findings

More natural rating behavior

Enhanced stability and consistency

Efficient algorithm for rating computation

Abstract

We suggest an improvement of the Elo rating system. Whereas Elo's theoretical background remains unaffected, we significantly change the way in which rating values are adjusted. It turns out that the modified system behaves much more naturally, and that it offers several advantages over the classical one. The key idea is a fixed point approach to the definition of the rating values. We provide an algorithm for the purpose of their computation.