Point rankings systems, chess and otherwise

[BVB]

Fortunately, D&D and most other roleplaying games have a built-in rankings system so that you have some general idea of which character is more "powerful" by comparison to the next. On top of standard experience point progressions, you've got numerical values for all sorts of other aspects -- gold, attributes, equipment bonuses, etc.

So this thread barely has anything at all to do with roleplaying games (except, to repeat myself, we've got all sorts of easy-to-track numbers!). I know a lot of you probably play chess, however, and I'm wondering about the benefits and drawbacks of the chessmaster rankings system. How does it work overall? It seems pretty complicated. Could it be applied to other games or sports?

 

[DMScott]

Chess ratings aren't really that complicated - basically you compare how well you did with how well you were expected to do (based on your current ranking and that of your opponent), and your rating goes up or down accordingly. A lot of ladder-type rankings use a similar system - squash ladders, bridge ladders, etc. I believe seeds in sports like tennis are calculated with a similar system.