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Chess Rankings & Ratings -

What do they mean?
chawil
Updated: May 10, 2018, 2:21 AM | c 50
| For Beginners

Someone recently achieved a 1200

rating playing against Fritz and posted a
thread asking what that means. I wrote
a (rather long) reply but, since this
subject crops up occasionally, I thought
I'd post it here as well. I hope it will be
of interest to community as a whole or
at least to those who don't understand
the rating system.

Ratings in the USCF, at least about 20

years ago, went something like this:

1200-1399 = 'D' player - usually a

beginner;
1400-1599 = 'C' player - average
club or tournament player, most
people can achieve this level if they
work at it;
1600 - 1799 = 'B' player -
consistently above average;
1800-1999 = 'A' player - strong club
player, takes the game far too
seriously!, has lots of opening
knowledge;
2000-2199 = 'Expert' - extremely
strong, consistent player with the
possibility of achieving Master
rating, may have real talent;
2200-2399 = 'Master' - strongest
amateur rank, hasn't quite got the
hang of things yet but maybe one
day he/she will wake up.

International professional players have

two ranks:

2400-2499 = 'International Master'

- weakest professional rank; strong,
experienced international player,
eats Masters for breakfast;
2500+ = 'Grandmaster' - eats IMs
for breakfast, lunch and dinner, a
star in the firmament of Caissa, a
chess genius who thinks nothing of
playing 20 and 30 board simuls
against Experts and Masters and is
disappointed if he/she doesn't win
every game, capable of playing 10-
20 blindfold games at the same
time, and winning, etc. etc, in
short, an all around bricks and
mortar, brass bound b*st*rd of a
player, but they do lose on
occasion, sometimes to players
with a much lower rating and
computers are better than that
these days.

Note that IMs can be rated above 2500

if they haven't yet achieved the results
necessary for the title of Grandmaster.

As you can see, most of us have got a

long way to go!

The ranks of International Master and

Grandmaster can only be gained
through participation in international
tournaments and the achievement of
'norms', that is consistently drawing
with and beating other professional
players. You can get a rating of
350,000,000 by playing in local
tournaments but you still wouldn't be an
IM or a GM. Of course if you do get a
rating of 350,000,000 drop me a line
and tell me how you did it!

It's important to remember that a rating

is a measure of consistency so don't be
put off playing higher rated players.
Anybody under the rating of 2000 can
play like an absolute idiot in a particular
game and you'll find that you will
sometimes play far beyond your own
rating.

The great thing about chess is that it's

fun to play. Players rated 1200 and
below probably have a lot more fun
playing than professionals. I think it was
Gary Kasparov who said, "Chess is
mental torture!", which doesn't sound
to me like he's enjoying his games very
much. After all, chess is a pass-time
and, unless you're trying to be a
professional, treat it as such and don't
worry too much about your rating.

S F ± Ώ

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