FIDE Elo rating [ Fide Elo rating calculator]

Everyone wants to be the best player, right? But the question is how do we know where we stand. This is where a chess rating system comes to play. A chess rating system is a system that evaluates the performance of a chess player against others. A higher number would show how strong a player is and vice versa.

The first modern rating system came into being in 1939, used by the Correspondence Chess League of America. However, today, the most widely used rating system is the Elo rating system adopted by International Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1970.

What is Fide Rating?

FIDE elo rating is a rating given to each chess player that determines their playing standard based on their performance against other chess players. The higher the rating, the higher is the playing strength of the chess player.

Check this blog to understand the requirements to get a fide rating, How to get FIDE Rating in Chess?

How does it work?

Created by an American physics professor and a chess genius, Arpad Elo, it measures the strength of players in zero-sum games, like, chess. Here, each player’s rating is shown by a number based on the results of a player’s previous game. Each game decides the number that would represent their performance. Now, you might think that Elo rating system would measure a player’s strength. This is where this rating system stands out.

The Elo system calculates a possible outcome of a person’s performance according to their previous performance. For example, a person who has 200 points higher than their opponent will be expected to win three out of four games which means a seventy five percent and so on. This way we can take the fluctuations of a player in every game he plays into consideration.

The second thing is that the rating gap between players decide how many points each can have. A low rated player can gain a lot of points if they win against a high rated player. Whereas if an ‘expected to win’ high rated player wins, they do not gain as much as points they would like while playing against a lower rated player. Nor do the lower rated player lose many points if their opponent wins.

But what happens when a low rated player wins? Well, they will win a considerable number of points. The opponent will be penalized accordingly. And to determine how much points a player will win or lose a lot of calculations come into play.

How do you calculate FIDE rating?

First of all, it assumes that the performance of a player is a random variable, following a normally distributed bell-shaped curve. Why? This will mean that even if a player plays better or worse in each game, their mean value would remain the same. This means that the mean value of the performance changes ever so slowly over a period of time.

What makes the Elo system stand out is, as mentioned above, that the ratings predict a probability of the outcome of a match. If players A and B have ratings R^A and R^B, then the scores will be

If both players have equal ratings, then the expected scores of players will equate to half of each. In layman’s terms, if both players are good, then naturally, they are predicted to score equal number of wins.

But what happens when player’s score differs from their predicted scores? Then the scores will have to be increased or decreased accordingly. The maximum possible adjustment is called the K-factor, set at 16 for masters and 32 for weaker players. Now, if player A was expected to score E^A points but scored S^A points, then the rating would be according to the formula given below: –

Therefore, the current rating would be – the previous rating plus the K-factor multiplied by the difference between expected scores and actual scores.

Taking all these calculations in mind, the ratings of players determine the category they fall into.

Are FIDE ratings and ELO ratings the same?

FIDE rating and Elo ratings are the same. This is the rating given by The International Chess Federation (FIDE), to the players. Higher the FIDE rating generally means, more the playing strength of that player.

The different rating types provided by FIDE in chess are:

• Standard Rating
• Rapid Rating
• Blitz Rating

Player Category

Players are ranked into different categories according to their ratings. They are awarded titles according to the categories they belong to. Are you wondering where you belong? Read on to find out: –

• Grandmasters: Players who have a rating of 2500 or above are called grandmasters – the wizards of the game
• International masters: They are the ones with ratings between 2400 and 2500
• FIDE master: Players who have between ratings 2300 and 2400
• FIDE candidate master/National Master: Players who score between 2200 and 2300
• Candidates Master: Players who score between 2000 and 2200
• Class A player: Players who score between 1800 and 1999
• Class B player: Players who score between 1600 and 1799
• Class C player: Players who score between 1400 and 1599
• Class D player: Players who score between 1200 and 1399
• Class E Player: Players who score between 1000 and 1199

So, who are you if you are brilliant enough to score a rating of 2700 and above? Well, congratulations, you are a super grandmaster.

How to get a FIDE Rating?

So, before you become a super grandmaster, you need to start somewhere, right? How do we go about it? Well, first you must register with your respective country’s chess federation, who will provide you with an ID, allowing you to play in FIDE rated tournaments.

This is important because to have a FIDE rating you should be able to play FIDE rated chess tournaments. You have to play against a minimum of five FIDE rated players. Not just that, you should score at least half points in within 26 months. Also, you will have to score at least 1000 rating to get your ratings published.

And all you need to do now is to register yourself and play your way into grandmastership.

Read More : How to play chess