Novice
Chess rating 400- 799
Novice chess players make many mistakes – as we all do in the beginning!
They recently learned the rules of chess, and might even forget them sometimes (especially those about castling, stalemates and en passant).
If you’re a novice, the only way to go is up 🙂
Beginner
Chess rating 800- 1099
Beginners in chess understand all the rules. They have a few openings that they like to play, and they might know a few tricks. They have the potential to play a good game of chess.
If you’re a beginner your big problem is blunders. You’re playing a good game, and then you suddenly lose a piece in 1 move. It’s very frustrating. But don’t worry, you’ll get over this soon if you learn to play cool, calm and collected 🙂
The first thing you should learn is common checkmate patterns, such as how to checkmate your opponent with only a king and a rook, and how to win king and pawn end games.
Intermediate
Chess rating 1100- 1399
Intermediate chess players are pretty good!
If you’re an intermediate player, you stopped losing games with big blunders (for the most part). Your mistakes now are more commonly that you lose a pawn after a miscalculation, or occasionally you blunder a fork.
Your goal as an intermediate is to become more and more consistent in your play, and to develop 1 or 2 openings that you know very well.
Advanced intermediate
Chess rating 1400 – 1699
At this chess rating you can confidently say you’re good at chess.
You don’t blunder anymore, and you only make inaccuracies in complicated positions. You have answers to all the common chess openings, and you have a few tricky lines to surprise opponents.
The goal now is to learn about more complicated positions. You can start playing a Sicilian, Grunfeld or a Ruy Lopez at this point.
Advanced
Chess rating 1700 – 1999
You’re now the best chess player in the room, almost anywhere you go (except at your chess club).
You don’t make mistakes anymore, you only make small inaccuracies. If you play against an intermediate player you can easily beat them with pressure and challenging positions.
The goal at this level is to round out your repertoire. Because there are still a quite a few systems that you don’t have a solid plan againt.
Expert
Chess rating 2000 – 2299
Experts are extremely good at chess.
They’re pretty much as good as you can get without going professional.
If you get any higher in rating, you start to qualify for real chess titles (international master at 2400 and grand master at 2500).
Also read: Best Chess Books: Top Picks for Every Skill Level
Our partners




