Elo
Elo rating is the system used to measure a chess player’s strength based on their game results. Every player has a number, their Elo, that goes up when they beat higher-rated opponents and goes down when they lose to lower-rated ones. Invented by physicist Arpad Elo in the 1960s, the system remains the world standard, used by FIDE as well as by every major online platform.
The number itself means nothing in isolation. What matters is the gap between two ratings: that gap predicts the result of a game, and the whole system is built on nothing else.
How your rating changes after a game
The calculation rests on a simple idea: the points won or lost depend on the rating gap between the two players. Beating a much stronger opponent pays off big; beating a much weaker one earns almost nothing. Conversely, losing to a much weaker player costs a lot, while losing to a much stronger one costs very little.
Two players of equal strength (same Elo) facing each other are playing a 50/50 match: the winner gains exactly as many points as the loser drops.
The expected score
Before any game, Elo converts the rating gap into a probability, called the expected score. The formula:
E = 1 / (1 + 10^(−D/400)), where D is your rating minus your opponent’s.
You don’t need to compute it. Here is what it produces:
| Rating gap | Stronger player’s expected score |
|---|---|
| 0 | 50 % |
| 50 | 57 % |
| 100 | 64 % |
| 150 | 70 % |
| 200 | 76 % |
| 300 | 85 % |
| 400 | 91 % |
| 500 | 95 % |
| 600 | 97 % |
The 400-point mark is the one worth remembering: at that gap, the favourite is expected to score 9 games out of 10.
The K-factor
Once the game is over, your new rating is:
New rating = old rating + K × (actual score − expected score)
Actual score is 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, 0 for a loss. K decides how violently your rating reacts. FIDE uses three values:
| K | Who it applies to |
|---|---|
| 40 | Your first 30 rated games, and players under 18 rated below 2300 |
| 20 | Players who have never crossed 2400 |
| 10 | Players who have reached 2400 at least once |
A worked example. You are 1500, your opponent is 1700, and K = 20. Your expected score is 24 %.
- You win: 20 × (1 − 0.24) = +15 points.
- You draw: 20 × (0.5 − 0.24) = +5 points.
- You lose: 20 × (0 − 0.24) = −5 points.
Notice the asymmetry. Against a stronger opponent, a loss barely costs anything and a draw already pays. This is why playing up is the fastest way to gain rating, and why avoiding stronger opponents to “protect” a rating is self-defeating.
Rating benchmarks
- Under 1000: beginner, still learning the rules and the basic traps.
- 1200-1400: casual club player, knows elementary tactics.
- 1600-1800: solid player, comfortable with opening principles and common endgames.
- 2000: expert level, usually reached after years of serious practice.
- 2200: the threshold for the Candidate Master (CM) title.
- 2500 and above: the level generally required, along with the necessary norms, for the grandmaster title.
- 2800 and above: the absolute summit, reached by only a handful of players in history, Magnus Carlsen among them.
Two reference points for scale: the highest FIDE rating ever published is Magnus Carlsen’s 2882, in May 2014; Garry Kasparov held the previous record at 2851. Since March 2024, FIDE’s published rating floor is 1400, which means a player weaker than that simply doesn’t appear on the list rather than receiving a lower number.
FIDE title thresholds
Ratings and titles are separate things. A rating goes up and down; a title, once earned, is held for life. The open titles require both a rating threshold and, for the top three, a set of performance results called norms.
| Title | Rating required | Norms |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate Master (CM) | 2200 | none |
| FIDE Master (FM) | 2300 | none |
| International Master (IM) | 2400 | 3 |
| Grandmaster (GM) | 2500 | 3 |
The women’s titles follow the same ladder 200 points lower: WCM 2000, WFM 2100, WIM 2200, WGM 2300. They are additional titles, not replacements: a player can hold both WGM and IM.
FIDE rating vs online rating: two different scales
FIDE rating measures strength in long, classical-time-control games at official tournaments. Online rating (chess.com, Lichess…) is calculated separately, often from blitz or bullet games, across a different pool of players. The two numbers don’t translate directly: a player might show 1800 online and only 1500 FIDE, or the reverse, simply because the scales measure different populations and different time controls.
Both platforms actually use systems more sophisticated than Elo: Glicko at chess.com, Glicko-2 at Lichess. These variants add a reliability value to the rating, so a player who has just arrived or hasn’t played in a year moves faster than a regular. The underlying principle stays the same: beating stronger players earns you more.
Three things drive the gap between your accounts:
- The pool. Lichess is free and open to everyone, so its pool skews toward stronger and more experienced players than a paid platform’s, which pushes the same player’s Lichess number down relative to chess.com.
- The time control. Your bullet, blitz and rapid ratings on the same site are three separate numbers, and the spread between them can exceed 300 points.
- The starting point. Each platform seeds new accounts at its own default, and it takes dozens of games for the number to settle.
Rules of thumb do circulate, usually placing chess.com Rapid a little above FIDE and Lichess Blitz several hundred points above it. Treat them as folklore: there is no official conversion, and the error bar on any such estimate is wide enough to make it useless for an individual. The only way to know your FIDE rating is to play FIDE-rated games.
How fast can you realistically gain rating?
Progress is not linear, and the same amount of work buys less and less as the number climbs. Below 1200, most of the gain comes from simply stopping one-move blunders, and jumps of several hundred points in a few months are common. Between 1400 and 1800, progress comes from tactics volume and from knowing what to do out of the opening. Above 2000, gains are measured in tens of points per year, because everyone you face is also working.
The one habit that changes the curve at every level: play long games, and review them afterwards. Rating earned in bullet tends not to transfer to slower time controls, because the skill it trains is speed rather than judgement.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a good Elo rating in chess?
It depends entirely on your point of comparison. Against the average amateur player, 1200-1400 is already solid; 1800 puts you near the top of club players. The International Master title starts around 2400, and grandmaster around 2500.
What is the average chess rating?
Among players with an official FIDE rating, the average sits around 1600-1700, but that population is already self-selected: it counts only people who enter rated tournaments. Across all online accounts, including the millions that play a handful of games and stop, the average is far lower, typically in the 800-1000 range depending on the platform and the time control.
Why is my online rating different from my FIDE rating?
Because they’re two separate scales, calculated over different pools of players and different time controls. Online rating, often earned in blitz or bullet against a huge number of players, doesn’t convert directly into FIDE rating, which comes from classical-time-control games at official tournaments.
How do I gain rating points quickly?
By regularly beating opponents rated higher than you: that’s where the point gain is largest, and where a loss costs you least. As for lasting progress, the only real method is working on your openings, your tactics and your endgames, then playing a large number of serious, reviewed games.
How do I get a FIDE rating?
By playing in a FIDE-rated tournament, which any affiliated club can enter you into. You need results against already-rated opponents; your first published rating appears once you have enough of them, provided it clears the 1400 floor.
Can you lose a chess title?
No. Ratings move both ways, but titles are permanent. A grandmaster whose rating drops below 2500, which happens routinely with age or inactivity, remains a grandmaster for life.
What is the highest Elo rating ever achieved?
2882, by Magnus Carlsen in May 2014. Kasparov’s 2851 from 1999 stood as the record for fifteen years. No engine rating belongs on this scale: engines play in a separate pool and their numbers aren’t comparable to human ones.