Jeff Sonas is the first and only researcher to develop and implement a methodology to rate the skills and accomplishments of all chess masters throughout recorded chess history – going back to the mid-1800’s – and these ratings can be explored at the Chessmetrics.com database. It is notable for its extraction, cleaning, and normalization of data from multiple historical sources into a unified and standardized dataset which has been optimized for predictive accuracy. Visit the Chessmetrics.com site for more information, or click here to view a listing of our popular publications.
Jeff has also written numerous articles for leading chess websites on statistical concepts in chess:
++ Landmark Articles
The Sonas Rating Formula – Better than Elo? (October, 2002)
Championship Chessmetrics Analysis – The best of all possible world championships (April 2002)
Rating inflation – its causes and possible cures (July 2009)
Chessmetrics Formulas (March 2005)
What was the strongest tournament of all time? (December 2009)
Overall review of the FIDE Rating System (August 2013)
Candidates – Who is going to win? (March 2013)
++ Article Series on The Greatest Chess Player of All Time
The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part I (April 2005)
The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part II (April 2005)
The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part III (May 2005)
The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part IV (May 2005)
++ Kaggle Chess Prediction Contests
Prize competition: can you out-predict Elo? (August 2010)
Can You Out-Predict Elo? – Competition update (September 2010)
Sonas: The Deloitte/FIDE Chess Rating Challenge I (February 2011)
Sonas: The Deloitte/FIDE Chess Rating Challenge II (June 2011)
++ Article Series on Man vs. Machine (Computer Chess)
Man vs Machine – who is winning? (October 2003)
Are Chess Computers Improving Faster Than Grandmasters? (October 2003)
Physical Strength and Chess Expertise (November 2003)
How (Not) To Play Chess Against Computers (November 2003)
Putting His Money Where His Stats Are (November 2003)
++ Other Notable Articles
The Elo Rating System – Correcting The Expectancy Tables (March 2011)
Sonas: Assessment of the EU performance calculation (April 2011)
Sonas: What Exactly Is The Problem Of Draws – Part 2 (October 2011)
Sonas: What Exactly Is The Problem? (September 2011)
Ratings Summit in Athens (June 2009)
Magnus Carlsen’s Performance in Nanjing (October 2009)
Who’s Going To Win The FIDE World Championship? (November 2001)
Will Ruslan Ponomariov Become The First Teenage Champ? (January 2002)
A Statistician’s View Of The FIDE World Championship (October 2005)