Ben Harris v Leila Lambert (Sat 23 Sep 2017)

Match won by Ben Harris. Result: 5-11,11-9,12-10.

Starting level for Ben Harris: 65, level confidence: 31%.
Starting level for Leila Lambert: 58, level confidence: 10%.
Ben Harris to win as he is currently playing 12% better than Leila Lambert.

Ben Harris won 67% of the games and 48% of the points.
This games result would be expected if he was better by around 20%.
This points result would be expected if he was worse by around 7% (PAR scoring).
These are weighted and combined to calculate that Ben Harris played 7% better than Leila Lambert in this match.

No results for Leila Lambert for more than 18 months before this junior event (Lansdown Junior Boxes) so assume an estimated 56% increase since then.

Special case for levels < 100 as these are often players who are new to the game and getting better fast. Levels can change quickly for these players and a default level increase of 1 has been added to both players for playing another match.

As this is a best of 3 match rather than best of 5, the maximum player adjustments have been reduced by 33%.

Without any limiting, both players would need to be adjusted by 16%. The level change for Ben Harris has been limited to an increase of 15% to 75. The level change for Leila Lambert has been limited to a decrease of 5% to 86.

Increase level confidence due to one more match played. Ben Harris: 45%, Leila Lambert: 22%.
Reduce level confidence based on how much adjustment is needed. Ben Harris: 42%, Leila Lambert: 20%.

Final level for Ben Harris: 75, level confidence: 42%.
Final level for Leila Lambert: 86, level confidence: 20%.

Notes

• This calculation is done in two main parts; first work out the adjustment needed to match the results and then apply damping. This means that levels should always be 'about right' but the time taken to get there or the volatility is dependent on the damping.
• A level also has 'level confidence' which drops if players haven't played for a long time or have had enexpected results. As low confidence levels adjust more quickly than high confidence levels, it allows these players to find their level more quickly without impacting their opponent's level too much.
• Point scores are used as well as game scores for accuracy - particularly important for 3-0 results - though we can work with game scores only too, albeit with more damping.
• Mismatched players are allowed for - you don't have to hammer your opponent. See explanation above if this applies to this match.
• The section on damping is where we still have some options. We have recently made a change to damp league matches more than tournament matches and box matches even more than that. This gives added weight to the more important matches.
• There are occasional, very small adjustments made to all players to keep the averages constant which are not covered here.
• You don't get a bonus just for winning - if you want to go up you have to play better than expected against your opponent.
• We have spent more than 5 years fine tuning the level calculations based on tens of thousands of match results and a great deal of feedback from players, team captains and coaches. It's the most usable and accurate ranking system there is in any sport, let alone squash.
• For a more complete explanation of how levels are calculated (on which this system is based) see the help file here.
• If you have thoughts/opinions on the above or any feedback on the way levels are calculated or updated, please contact us. We welcome all feedback, although we are keen squash players ourselves and would pefer to be on-court than in front of a screen so please be patient and please do try to see if your question has already been answered on the help page. We are unable to answer questions about hard anyone played in their match - we only get to see the results - and if your level didn't increase as expected please make sure you've looked at the above explanation before contacting us. If you want to go up the levels, train harder, listen to your coach and win more points. Or just be incredibly talented!