How rating works on ChessHere.
ChessHere uses Glicko-2 — a modern rating system that's more accurate than classic Elo. Every rated game updates your rating instantly, and the math is open and transparent.
A more accurate rating, faster.
Classic Elo treats every player the same: every win or loss moves your rating by a fixed amount, regardless of how long you've been playing or how confident the system is in your number.
Glicko-2 is smarter. It tracks how confident the system is in your rating, and adjusts faster when it isn't sure — and slower when it is. New players climb to their real strength quickly. Established players don't get yanked around by a single lucky streak.
It's the same family of system used by major correspondence chess federations and the closest thing to a "FIDE rating, but designed for the internet" that exists today.
Behind every rating, three values.
You only see the rating itself, but the system tracks three numbers per player, per time control. Each one tells the system something different.
Rating
The number you see. Higher means stronger. Starts at 1500 for everyone.
Rating Deviation (RD)
How sure the system is about your rating. New players start at 350 (very uncertain); active players settle around 30–80 (very confident).
Volatility
How likely your true strength is changing. Starts at 0.06. It drifts up when you have surprising results, and down when your results are consistent.
A rating per time control.
Bullet skill and classical skill aren't the same thing. Your rating in each time control is tracked separately, with its own RD and volatility, so a brilliant blitz run doesn't change your daily-chess number and vice versa.
Three things matter, every game.
Who you played
Beating a higher-rated opponent gives you more points than beating a lower-rated one. Losing to a much lower-rated opponent costs you more than losing to a much higher-rated one.
How sure the system is about you
A high RD (new player, or returning after a long break) means each game can move your rating dozens of points. A low RD (regular player) means it moves only a few points per game.
How sure the system is about your opponent
A win against an opponent the system is uncertain about (high RD) carries less weight than a win against an opponent it knows well. The system trusts more confident ratings more.
On every challenge dialog and seek, ChessHere shows you exactly how your rating would change for a win, draw, or loss — calculated against your specific opponent. No surprises after the game.
Provisional ratings
A new player starts with RD = 350 — the system has no idea how strong they actually are. Their rating is shown with a ? to mark it as provisional.
The "?" disappears once the system has seen enough games to be confident. Until then, expect big swings — and try to find your real strength quickly. The faster you play, the faster the "?" goes away.
Inactivity drift
Skill changes when you don't play. After a long break, the system isn't as sure about your rating, so your RD goes back up — capped at the starting 350.
Your rating doesn't move during a break, only the confidence around it. Come back, play a few games, and the system will quickly re-establish your real number.
What's the same, what's different.
| FIDE / Elo | Glicko-2 on ChessHere | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting rating | ~1400 unrated estimate, but no formal start. | 1500 for everyone. |
| Confidence | Not tracked. Same K-factor for everyone. | Tracked per player as RD — bigger swings when uncertain, smaller when confident. |
| Update timing | Periodic (often monthly). | After every rated game. |
| Per time control | Yes (FIDE separates standard / rapid / blitz). | Yes — bullet, blitz, rapid, classical, correspondence. |
| Rating scale | ~1000 (beginner) to 2800+ (world top). | Same scale — numbers feel familiar. |
| Inactivity | Some federations apply rating decay. | RD increases (uncertainty grows). Rating itself doesn't decay. |
Fairer for new players, kinder to regulars.
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New players reach their true rating fast.High RD at the start means each game moves the rating a lot. Fewer games to find your level.
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Regular players don't get whiplash.Low RD means a single bad game won't tank a hard-earned rating. Consistency is rewarded.
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Sudden improvement is recognised.Volatility responds to surprising results, so a player who's improving fast climbs faster than they would under classic Elo.
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The math is open.Glicko-2 was designed by Professor Mark Glickman and is fully published. Anyone can verify exactly how a rating was calculated.
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