EBU Ranking.  This is the older way of ordering merit and achievement but it wasn't, and isn't, much of an indicator of how good you are right now.  It's much more of a record of how long you've been playing the game and how well you've played it during that time but only up to a point.  It stands to reason that anybody who's been playing the game for thirty years for five days a week will almost by default have earned more master points than somebody who's been playing once a week for a year.  Master points are those numbers on the right hand side of the final score table against your name if you've finished somewhere near the top. Play the game for fifty years and unless you are abnormally hopeless at the game you'll have a respectable place on the EBU rankings but it doesn't tell the whole story and it certainly is not a reliable indicator of how well you are playing right now.

This is where the National Grading Scheme (NGS) comes in.  The NGS is the moving average of your results over a continually advancing year. Therefore, while that chap above who's been playing five days a week for the past thirty years will rank higher than the new kid on the block who's been playing just once a week for a year the new kid could be the better current performer and a better choice for the county team.  This is why most players now pay more attention to their NGS than they do to their EBU lifetime ranking but its still nice to know that you are recognised as a three star premier master of something in the world and EBU rankings give you that glow of satisfaction. You can view you NGS rating by clicking on 'results' to see the drop down menu.

EBU Ranking.  This is the older way of ordering merit and achievement but it wasn't, and isn't, much of an indicator of how good you are right now.  It's much more of a record of how long you've been ..........