Here's an example how the ladder works. You can also look at the general description.

Tom, Chris, Sarah and Mike each start out with 2000 points.

In the first game, Tom beats Chris. Tom as the winner gains 50 points, plus 2 for having played. Chris as the loser drops 50 points, but gains 2 for playing, too. The first game between Mike and Sarah is a draw, so they only get 2 points each. After these two games the ladder looks like this:

Place	Player	Score (wins-losses-ties)	Ladder Points
1.	Tom	1-0-0	2052
2.	Sarah	0-0-1	2002
	Mike	0-0-1	2002
4.	Chris	1-0-0	1952

Next, Sarah plays Chris three times in a row and beats him in all three games. As Chris' points rating keeps dropping, Sarah gains less and less points for her victories: 44 for the first, 31 for the second and only 24 for the third. This leaves Sarah with 2102 points and Chris with 1865.

Chris then goes on to beat Tom. Tom starts the game as the stronger player (he has 1977 points, 112 more than Chris). Therefore, Chris' victory is rewarded with 79 points! The final ladder after all these games looks like this: