Home › Blog › Chess.com Rating vs FIDE: Why the Numbers Don't Match
A Chess.com rating and a FIDE rating come from separate pools of players, each with its own formula and starting point, so the same number means different things in each. No organization publishes an official conversion from online ratings to over-the-board ones, and Lichess advises against comparing its ratings with other organizations. Open data from ChessGoals (updated July 2026) shows Chess.com rapid and FIDE lining up near 1870, with FIDE running higher below that, so a fixed "plus X points" rule breaks down.
I build Checkmate IRL, which keeps its own rating for in-person games, so weigh what I say about it with that in mind. Everything else comes from the sources linked below, checked in October 2026.
They're measured against different groups of players, and a rating only ranks you inside its own pool. A 1500 says how you score against the other people in that pool, and only them.
Chess.com players, Lichess players and FIDE-rated tournament players are different groups that overlap in part. Lichess's FAQ puts it plainly: "It is best not to think of ratings as absolute numbers, or compare them against other organisations." It points to different player levels and different rating systems as the reasons.
The pools also start in different places: Chess.com lets you pick 400, 800, 1200 or 1600 at signup, Lichess starts everyone at 1500, Checkmate IRL starts you at your own rating or 650 by default, and FIDE publishes nothing below 1400.
The formulas differ too. Glicko-based systems move fast while the system is still unsure of you, and FIDE's Elo moves by a fixed step size that depends on your games played and your level.
Even one site keeps several pools. Chess.com's help center says your rapid, blitz and bullet ratings don't affect one another, and calls big gaps between them normal.
Over-the-board systems disagree with each other as well. US Chess's own formula turns a FIDE 1500 into a US Chess 1277.
Chess.com, Lichess and Checkmate IRL use Glicko-family formulas, while FIDE and US Chess use Elo-type ones.
| System | Formula | Starting rating | Who runs it | Which games count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chess.com | Glicko, by Chess.com's description, with a rating deviation | 400, 800, 1200 or 1600, picked at signup | Chess.com | Games on Chess.com, with a separate rating per time control |
| Lichess | Glicko-2 | 1500, provisional while the deviation is high | Lichess | Rated games on Lichess |
| FIDE | Elo, with a K-factor of 40, 20 or 10 | None fixed: set after 5 or more games against rated opponents, published from 1400 | FIDE | Rated over-the-board events; standard games need 60 to 120 minutes each, by rating level |
| US Chess | Elo-type, with bonus points for a big over-performance | Converted from FIDE or another rating; otherwise 50 × your age, up to 1300 | US Chess | Rated US Chess events, with separate over-the-board and online pools |
| Checkmate IRL | Glicko-1 | Your own rating, or 650 by default | Checkmate IRL | In-person games, rated when both players have accounts |
FIDE's K-factor is 40 for your first 30 games and for under-18s below 2300, 20 below 2400, and 10 from 2400. Your rating moves by K × (your score - your expected score), so a new player's rating swings more per game.
Glicko, created by Mark Glickman in 1995, adds a rating deviation: a measure of how sure the system is about your number.
There's no official one. Chess.com's help center has no FIDE conversion, and FIDE publishes none for online ratings.
Federations do publish conversions between their own over-the-board ratings. US Chess converts a FIDE rating into a starting US Chess rating, and the English Chess Federation gives FIDE = 0.6 × ECF + 700 up to 1750, with parity above, while saying there's no ideal fit.
The best open data comes from ChessGoals, updated July 2026. Almost 20,000 active players volunteered their online usernames and federation IDs, and ChessGoals pulled their ratings from the sites' APIs and the federation rating lists. It then matched the ratings by rank.
Every table is keyed on Chess.com blitz:
| Chess.com blitz | Chess.com rapid | FIDE | FIDE minus rapid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 1255 | no data | |
| 1200 | 1420 | 1670 | +250 |
| 1500 | 1655 | 1740 | +85 |
| 1800 | 1870 | 1865 | -5 |
| 2000 | 1995 | 1965 | -30 |
| 2200 | 2110 | 2075 | -35 |
The gap shrinks, closes near 1870 and then flips sign. That's why "Chess.com rapid = FIDE + X" doesn't hold at every level.
Read the table with its caveats:
Treat it as a range for players like you at a given level.
World Chess published a draft white paper in August 2026 proposing a method to convert online ratings into FIDE ones. It's a draft, and it says a converted rating would come in lower than the player's online one.
On 1 March 2024, FIDE raised its rating floor from 1000 to 1400. Every player under 2000 also got a one-off boost of 0.4 × (2000 - rating).
A 1500 became a 1700, and a 1000 became a 1400. Any comparison chart or rule of thumb from before that date uses lower FIDE numbers for players under 2000.
OTB means over the board: chess played with a physical board and pieces. Two players on computers in the same room don't count.
An OTB rating usually means your FIDE rating or a national one, such as US Chess, ECF or the German DWZ, earned at rated in-person events. Casual games at a café or a club night don't count toward those.
Chess.com leaves them out too. Chess.com requires games between players at the same location to be unrated, and the Chess.com vs Lichess vs Checkmate IRL comparison covers what each app does with an in-person game. To keep a record of those games anyway, here's how to track your OTB games.
FIDE has its own rating calculators for a rating change and for a first rating.
Player experience says a first OTB event can go below your online level, and ChessGoals tells readers not to expect their Lichess level there; we know of no study that measures it.
The rules are different over the board, under the FIDE Laws of Chess:
Add an opponent across the table, and the first few events can feel slower than your online games. Before a first rated event, a few games with a chess clock and a scoresheet let you practice the mechanics.
It depends on the pool: a Chess.com article put the average blitz rating at 645, while FIDE's open titles start at 2200.
Chess.com shows your percentile, the share of members rated at or below you, once you've played 20 games of a type with 1 in the last 90 days. A Chess.com article updated 14 December 2023 put the average blitz rating at 645, and over 2000 in blitz among the top 1%.
Chess.com's glossary also borrows US Chess class names, describing Class C (1400 to 1599) as an average club or tournament player. No official "intermediate" number exists, though Chess.com's "Intermediate" signup option starts you at 1200.
For FIDE, titles give fixed markers:
| Title | FIDE rating | Also needs |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate Master (CM) | 2200 | 30 rated games |
| FIDE Master (FM) | 2300 | 30 rated games |
| International Master (IM) | 2400 | Norms over 27 or more games, 2450 performance |
| Grandmaster (GM) | 2500 | Norms over 27 or more games, 2600 performance |
The women's titles WCM, WFM, WIM and WGM follow the same pattern at 2000, 2100, 2200 and 2300.
Checkmate IRL keeps its own pool for in-person games, rated with Glicko-1 when both players have accounts. You start at your own rating or 650, it's established after 3 rated games, and it updates once a game syncs. It's unofficial and separate from FIDE and national ratings, and how the offline chess rating works explains the rest.
Sources, checked in October 2026:
What does OTB mean in chess? Over the board: a game on a physical board with physical pieces. Players on computers in the same room don't count as OTB.
What is an OTB rating? Usually your FIDE rating or a national rating such as US Chess, ECF or DWZ, earned at rated in-person events. Casual games at a café or club night don't count toward them.
Is a Chess.com rating the same as a FIDE rating? No. They come from different pools, with different starting points and formulas, and there's no official conversion. In ChessGoals' July 2026 data, Chess.com rapid and FIDE lined up near 1870; lower down, FIDE ran higher.
Is there a Chess.com to FIDE rating converter? Nothing official. ChessGoals' comparison table is the best open data, but read it as a range, and it has no accurate FIDE data for players under about 1550.
Why is my Lichess rating higher than my Chess.com rating? Lichess is a different pool with a different start, 1500 against Chess.com's 400 to 1600. In ChessGoals' data, a Chess.com blitz 800 matched a Lichess blitz 1290, and the two line up around 2200.
How is a FIDE rating calculated? With Elo: your rating changes by K × (your score - your expected score). K is 40 for your first 30 games and for under-18s below 2300, 20 below 2400, and 10 from 2400.
What rating does FIDE start you at? There's no fixed start. After 5 or more games against rated opponents, FIDE takes your opponents' average, adds 2 hypothetical draws against 1800s, adjusts for your score and caps it at 2200. It's published only from 1400.
What's the lowest FIDE rating? 1400, since 1 March 2024. The same change gave every player under 2000 a one-off boost of 0.4 × (2000 - rating).
What rating do you need to be a grandmaster? 2500 in FIDE, plus norms over at least 27 games with a 2600 performance. International Master needs 2400 plus norms, FIDE Master 2300 and Candidate Master 2200.
Why are my Chess.com rapid and blitz ratings so different? Each time control is its own pool. Chess.com's help center says they don't affect one another and that big gaps between them are normal.
Checkmate IRL is the companion app for over-the-board chess: a chess clock that saves your results, an offline rating, and a map of places to play near you.