English Bridge Union
The National Grading Scheme is one of the most popular services we provide in the EBU and is envied by many other national bridge organisations. It provides a measure of current form and it is based on a pairs’ results in combination with their existing NGSs and the strength of their opponents (SOpp). So if you play with a partner with a low NGS you don’t need to get such a good result in order to maintain or even improve your NGS. This is even more so the case if you play in a strong field. Indeed, it is possible to improve your NGS even with a score below 50%, if your partnership’s NGSs are lower than those of your opponents. This is something that is not always understood and has occasionally led to those with a high NGS being reluctant to partner less experienced players.
One thing that some stronger players reported to us was that they felt that in the early stages a new player’s NGS would vary from their true ability until it settled down – though of course this was not all one way and sometimes it had the effect of giving their NGS a boost!
Because of this feedback we made a couple of changes to the scheme earlier in the year, firstly so that the grade of players with 'mature' grades do not change at all when they partner players who have played fewer than 150 graded boards. This means that there is no danger of a game with a new player harming your NGS (though of course you can’t get the benefit of a good game with them either).
The second change that was made was for the first 150 boards played by a new player to have a greater effect on their NGS, so that they reach an appropriate grade much sooner. So now more experienced players should be able to partner “newbies” without worrying so much about their NGS!
Whilst these changes have been in place since March we do know that not all members are aware of them. There may still be people in your club who are unwilling to partner less experienced players based on assumptions they made prior to these changes. In light of these updates you may wish to broach the topic again with them, and tell them what has changed – you may find they are now more willing to act as a ‘mentor’ or ‘host’.”
