This was a relatively quiet year for the Ratings Committee (RC).
With no charged tasks, we encountered two issues that were
discussed among committee members during the year.  These
are described below.  Apart from these issues, the committee
chair has been in contact with the USCF office about the USCF
system upgrade to make sure the transition of the rating
system is carried out seamlessly.  The RC will make sure
that this transition would include the ability to have the 
rating system monitored according to the approach the RC has 
been working on over the past several years.

The first main issue we encountered was the news that the USCF
had made the decision to allow events with Game/5 time
controls to be rated under the Quick Chess system, which
prior to 2004 included time controls as quick as Game/10.
Unfortunately, this decision was made without consultation
of the committee.  It is arguable that games with Game/5
time controls require a type of skill not necessary for
longer time controls, so that the Quick Chess rating system
as it stands may not be appropriate.  In discussing the issue among
RC members, two approaches to addressing the problem arose.
One method is to implement an entirely new rating system
that would be specific for blitz chess.  The second
method is to use Quick Chess ratings, but in updating
ratings from blitz chess events, the rating change would be
a fraction (e.g., 1/2 or 1/4) of the normal rating change.
This is an example of the so-called "fractional-K" method.
We conveyed to the RC liaison to the Executive Board these
possible approaches, and to discuss these possibilities at
the January 2004 EB meeting.  Based on recent
communications, we anticipate revisiting this issue in the 
coming months.

The second issue we addressed was in response to an
announcement that select FIDE events would be USCF-rated 
for players who had USCF ratings, and that the method was to 
add 50 rating points to FIDE ratings in calculating rating updates.  
In response, we pointed out that the RC devised a method 10 years ago 
which was in place in 1994 to update USCF ratings from FIDE
events.  We advised that the USCF office continue to use
this procedure.