About ELO and Move Time


Arpad ELO, creator of the ELO Rating System

Some people is asking us about the “ELO” and “Move Time” options on Mobialia Chess. ELO is an statistical chess rating based on games results playing against other persons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system

Our Carballo Chess Engine has an estimated ELO of 2100 on a PC, playing against other chess engines. Those test results are shown on:

http://www.alonsoruibal.com/chess

On a Nexus one (with 1GHz processor) with Froyo (Android 2.2) this sould be something similar. But in other (slower) mobiles may be lower.

If you select on the settings ELO 2100, the engine will be playing at his maximun strength; selecting lower ELO levels, the chess engine lowers its playing strength, introducing errors and reducing game knowledge.

We made some statistic analysis to determine the relationship between the errors introduced and the ELO level, so it should be something aproximated.

The move time is different to ELO, it’s only the time that the engine will be thinking for each move. To save battery the game does not ponder (think on opponent’s time).