What is a rating?
A rating is a number that shows how strongly you have played. It moves after every game: a better result than expected raises it, and a worse one lowers it. The system is often called Elo, after Arpad Elo, who devised it. The gap between two players tells you how the game should go. With 200 points more, you are expected to score about 76 percent.
FIDE publishes a new list every month, and here we mean its list for classical games. It starts at 1400: if you drop below that, you are shown as unrated on the next list. In November 2026 the list had 573,481 players, and 223,906 of them were active, meaning at least one rated game in the past year.
How the list breaks down
There is no official line for what counts as good. But you can see where you would land among people who play tournaments.
| Rating | In the world | At least this high | In Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2700 and up | 31 | 0.01% | 0 |
| 2500–2699 | 556 | 0.26% | 4 |
| 2300–2499 | 3,543 | 1.8% | 69 |
| 2200–2299 | 4,221 | 3.7% | 76 |
| 2000–2199 | 19,602 | 12.5% | 442 |
| 1800–1999 | 49,553 | 34.6% | 930 |
| 1600–1799 | 72,269 | 66.9% | 1,024 |
| 1400–1599 | 74,131 | 100.0% | 453 |
Keep in mind who is on it. Everyone there has played rated games in competition, and only a small share of the people who can play chess do. A number in the lower rows isn't a bad number. If you play at home, at school, or online, you aren't on the list at all.
What the numbers mean
FIDE's titles make a simple scale. At 2200 you can become a Candidate Master, at 2300 a FIDE Master, at 2400 an International Master, and at 2500 a grandmaster, the last two also with strong results. For women the titles start at 2000. More under What is a grandmaster?
At the very top are 31 active players with 2700 or more. The highest on the list is Magnus Carlsen, and the highest rating of all time is his 2882.
Ratings online
Chess sites have their own systems and their own players, so their numbers can't be compared directly with FIDE's, or with each other. That goes for the rating you get when you play online here too.
The most honest measure is probably your own number from a year ago. To see where you stand, try our computer opponents, from clueless to impossible.
Sources
- FIDE: the standard rating list, November 2026 (downloaded and counted November 8, 2026)
- FIDE: Rating Regulations, effective March 1, 2024 (active players, the rating floor of 1400, the table of expected scores)
- FIDE: Title Regulations, effective January 1, 2024
- This site's glossary: how ratings work
The facts on this page come from the sources above and, where possible, were checked across several sources. Where the sources disagree, we say less or say what each one says. A number that is an estimate says whose it is, and a counted number comes with its date.
Updated November 9, 2026