Chess Rating Guide: Everything You Need to Know
Whether you just started playing or you're chasing your next milestone, understanding chess ratings helps you track your progress and set realistic goals. Here's your complete guide.
The Chess Rating Scale
Chess ratings typically range from about 100 to 2800+. Here's how the scale breaks down. Click any rating level to learn more about it:
How Chess Ratings Work
Chess ratings use the Elo system, named after physicist Arpad Elo, to measure playing strength. Every rated player starts with a provisional rating that adjusts up or down based on game results. Beat a higher-rated player and you gain more points. Lose to a lower-rated player and you lose more. Over time, your rating converges toward a number that reflects your actual playing strength.
The tricky part is that different platforms use different rating pools, which means the same player can have very different numbers on Chess.com, Lichess, and FIDE. A 1200 on Chess.com is not the same as a 1200 on Lichess or a 1200 FIDE rating. Understanding these differences is key to knowing where you actually stand.
Rating Systems Compared
FIDE
The gold standard of chess ratings. Used for over-the-board tournament play worldwide. FIDE ratings tend to be the lowest because the player pool is highly selective - only serious tournament players have FIDE ratings.
Chess.com
The world's largest online chess platform with over 100 million accounts. Ratings start around 400-800 for new players. Because the player pool includes many casual players, percentiles are generous at lower ratings.
Lichess
A popular free and open-source chess platform. Lichess uses the Glicko-2 rating system and ratings tend to run about 200-300 points higher than Chess.com for the same player. A 1500 Lichess rating is roughly equivalent to 1200-1300 on Chess.com.
USCF
The US Chess Federation rating system, used for official US tournament play. USCF ratings typically run about 50-100 points higher than FIDE ratings, though the gap narrows at higher levels.
Is Your Rating Good? Find Out
Select your rating level below to get a detailed breakdown of what it means, how it compares across platforms, and specific tips to improve:
A 400 chess rating is a beginner rating, placing you in roughly the bottom 5% of Chess.com players. Most players at this level have just...
Is 400 good? Find out →A 700 chess rating is below average but perfectly normal for someone still learning. On Chess.com, you're around the 20th percentile. You've...
Is 700 good? Find out →An 800 chess rating is a solid beginner rating, putting you around the 30th percentile on Chess.com. You understand the fundamentals and can...
Is 800 good? Find out →A 1000 chess rating is right at the average on Chess.com, meaning you're better than roughly 50% of all players on the platform. This is a...
Is 1000 good? Find out →An 1100 chess rating is slightly above average, placing you around the 60th percentile on Chess.com. You're past the beginner stage and have...
Is 1100 good? Find out →A 1200 chess rating is solidly above average, placing you around the 70th percentile on Chess.com. This is a meaningful milestone - it means...
Is 1200 good? Find out →A 1300 chess rating is a good rating that puts you well above average - around the 77th percentile on Chess.com. You have solid tactical...
Is 1300 good? Find out →A 1400 chess rating is genuinely good - you're in the top 15% of Chess.com players. At this level, you have solid tactical skills,...
Is 1400 good? Find out →A 1500 chess rating is very good - you're in roughly the top 10% on Chess.com and around the 60th percentile on Lichess. You have genuine...
Is 1500 good? Find out →A 1600 chess rating is excellent - you're in the top 7% on Chess.com, which means 93 out of 100 players are rated below you. This is roughly...
Is 1600 good? Find out →A 1700 chess rating is very strong - you're in the top 5% on Chess.com, meaning only about 1 in 20 players reaches this level. This is...
Is 1700 good? Find out →An 1800 chess rating is excellent - you're in the top 3% on Chess.com, which is approaching expert territory. This equates to roughly...
Is 1800 good? Find out →A 1900 chess rating is outstanding - you're in the top 1.5% on Chess.com, sitting right at the doorstep of the 2000 milestone. In FIDE...
Is 1900 good? Find out →A 2000 chess rating is exceptional - you're in the top 1% on Chess.com and roughly the top 8% of FIDE-rated players. In many national...
Is 2000 good? Find out →Free Chess Rating Tools
ELO Rating Converter
Convert your rating between FIDE, Chess.com, Lichess, and USCF. See your approximate equivalent on any platform.
📊Percentile Calculator
Find out exactly what percentile your rating falls in. See the full distribution curve for any platform.
🧠Chess Rating - IQ Calculator
Explore the correlation between chess rating and IQ. A fun way to put your chess strength in perspective.