ChessA rating is a single number that stands for playing strength. The higher it is, the stronger the player, and the bigger the gap between two players, the better the stronger one's chances. This article explains how it's calculated, roughly what each rating range means, and where titles like grandmaster come from. Curious what your own rating might be? Head to free online chess first and play a few games against the computer at different levels.
What is the Elo rating?
The rating system used today was designed by Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The US Chess Federation adopted it in 1960 and FIDE, the International Chess Federation, in 1970, which is why it's called the Elo rating.
The idea is simple: the rating gap tells you the expected score. Beat someone stronger than expected and you gain a lot of points; lose to someone weaker than expected and you lose a lot.
What a rating gap means
In the table below, "expected score" means: counting 1 point for a win and 0.5 for a draw, how much the player scores per game on average.
| Rating gap | Expected score of the higher-rated player |
|---|---|
| 0 | 50% |
| 100 | 64% |
| 200 | 76% |
| 300 | 85% |
| 400 | 91% |
With a gap of 400 points or more, the weaker player will find it very hard to win. But "very hard" isn't "impossible", and that's part of what makes chess fun.
How many points is a win worth?
After each game, your rating changes by "actual score minus expected score", multiplied by a factor called K. FIDE uses K = 20 for most players, 40 for new and young players, and 10 for top players rated 2400 and above.
An example: you're rated 1500 (K = 20) and you beat someone rated 1700. Your expected score was only 24%, but you scored 1 point, so you gain 20 × (1 − 0.24) ≈ 15 points, and your opponent loses the same amount. If you lose to someone rated 1300, you drop about 15 points.
Roughly what each rating means
| Rating | Roughly what it means |
|---|---|
| Under 1000 | Just learned the moves, often misses the opponent's threats |
| 1200–1600 | Typical club player, knows opening principles and basic tactics |
| 1600–2000 | Very experienced amateur, rarely just hangs a piece |
| 2000–2200 | Strong amateur, called "Expert" in some countries |
| 2300 and up | The level of international titles, semi-professional and professional players |
| 2700 and up | World elite, only a few dozen people in the world |
The highest rating ever is 2882, set by Norway's Magnus Carlsen in 2014.
Online platforms calculate ratings differently from FIDE and start you at a different number, so the same person's ratings in different places are often hundreds of points apart. Only compare them with players on the same platform.
Titles: grandmaster and international master
FIDE awards titles for life. They're mostly based on rating, and grandmaster and international master also require set results in international events, called "norms":
| Title | Rating required |
|---|---|
| Grandmaster (GM) | 2500, plus three GM norms |
| International Master (IM) | 2400, plus three norms |
| FIDE Master (FM) | 2300 |
| Candidate Master (CM) | 2200 |
There are also women's titles: Woman Grandmaster (WGM, 2300), Woman International Master (WIM, 2200), Woman FIDE Master (WFM, 2100) and Woman Candidate Master (WCM, 2000). Women can also earn any of the open titles above.
Roughly what rating this site's computer opponents play at
This site's Beginner to Advanced opponents are Maia, an AI trained on real people's games to imitate players at a given rating. The three levels are set to imitate online players rated about 1100, 1500 and 1900. Master is Stockfish, far stronger than any human. To learn how computers manage that, read computer chess.
If you can beat a level consistently, your online rating is probably somewhere around there.
Frequently asked questions
What rating does a beginner usually have?
When you've just learned the moves, it's usually under 1000. If you play a lot and solve puzzles, gaining a few hundred points in your first year is very common.
Will my rating keep going up?
No. Your rating goes up and down with each game. Losing a few in a row and dropping a few dozen points is perfectly normal. What matters is the long-term trend.
Do I have to play in tournaments to get a rating?
You only get a FIDE rating by playing in officially registered events. Online platforms give you a starting rating as soon as you sign up, and after a few games it settles to your level.
Give it a try
Start at Beginner and play chess online, working your way up one level at a time to see which one you can beat consistently. Want to get stronger? Go do some puzzles.