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📊 Data & Methodology

Analyzing the latest data shows that the relationship has changed between online and over-the-board (OTB) ratings. The standard conversion rules need to be changed, likely due to an increase of players and study habits.

OTB Rating Shifts

• USCF Beginner Boom: The difference between beginner online blitz and USCF has drastically changed. A 500-rated Chess.com blitz player used to be about 500 USCF, but now they map to 925! We don’t see many ratings below 900 now except for Chess.com.
• USCF Advanced Player Compression: The upper end has compressed for USCF ratings. An 1800 Chess.com blitz player is about 1800 USCF, and as you get to 2200 blitz that player maps to only 2010 USCF.
• The FIDE Floor: Due to FIDE’s recent increase in ratings, there is no accurate data for players under about 1550 FIDE. These players tend to be extreme outliers and are removed from the comparisons.

Online Platforms

• Lichess vs. Chess.com Convergence: We all know that lichess ratings are inflated compared to Chess.com and OTB, but that gap has shrunk for lichess blitz players rated over 1200. An 800 Chess.com blitz player is 1290 Lichess blitz (+490), a 1200 Chess.com player is about 1555 on Lichess (+355), and a 1700 maps to 1885 (+185). The two ratings line up around 2200.
• The Classical Dilemma: There are less active Lichess classical players in our dataset this year (N=240). A chess.com blitz player rated 500 is now 1505 at Lichess Classical compared to 1340 a year ago.

Time Control Nuances

• Bullet & Blitz: Within servers, blitz and bullet ratings tend to stay within 110 points of each other. Bullet ratings are slightly lower across the board on Chess.com. Bullet ratings start lower on Lichess, converge and 1885, and then go a bit higher for titled-level players.
• Rapid is Unique: Even though rapid ratings have a high correlation with blitz ratings, their distributions remain flatter. A 1000 Chess.com blitz player is 1255 rapid, but a 2000 blitz player is 1995 rapid. We see this same trend every year, and it also occurs on Lichess for their rapid and classical ratings.

Dataset Overview

These tables and comparisons are built with a dataset of almost 20,000 total players, only using active players in each category to maximize statistical accuracy.

• Chess.com Pool: 9,300+ Bullet profiles | 10,100+ Rapid profiles
• Federation Pool: 1,760 active USCF players | 1,923 active FIDE players
• Lichess Pool: 1,935 Blitz profiles | 1,455 Bullet profiles

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♟️ Chess.com vs. FIDE and USCF

Curious how your Chess.com rating translates to official over-the-board ratings?

This first table maps your Chess.com ratings directly to USCF and FIDE.

Because OTB rating pools are completely separate from online pools, we use Chess.com blitz as our universal baseline. All players included in this dataset have active profiles in both systems to ensure the highest accuracy. Chess.com blitz has the strongest correlation with the other rating pools in our dataset.

How to Read the Tables Below

1. Find your primary Chess.com Blitz rating in the leftmost column.
2. Follow the horizontal row across to find the statistical equivalent for your target platform or time control.
3. The (+/−) value in the column headers represents the value where roughly 50% of active players fall within this specific rating window.

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⚔️ Lichess Ratings vs. Chess.com

Curious how your Chess.com rating stacks up against your Lichess.org rating?

This chart compares active players on both platforms. Everyone included had an RD (rating deviation) under 150, ensuring the ratings are established and stable.

Here’s what we found in this year’s update:

• Lichess Blitz ratings are now about 30 points lower than last year relative to Chess.com blitz.
• Lichess Classical ratings are ~15 points higher.
• Lichess Bullet ratings are ~40 points higher.
• Lichess Rapid ratings are ~25 points lower.

Note: The number of active Lichess users in our dataset has decreased slightly over the past year, but the comparisons remain strong thanks to our filtered criteria.

Reading the Table

• Find your Chess.com blitz rating in the first column.
• Use the corresponding row to estimate your USCF, FIDE, Rapid, and Bullet ratings
• The (+/–) column shows the typical range for 50% of players

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🏆 Lichess Ratings vs. FIDE and USCF

How do Lichess.org ratings compare to official over-the-board (OTB) ratings like USCF and FIDE?

We created this table by combining the data from Tables 1 and 2 to map Lichess ratings directly to OTB equivalents.

Here’s what we found:

• Lichess ratings are generally higher than USCF and FIDE ratings across all time controls.
• For example, a Lichess rapid rating of 1800 maps to roughly 1450 USCF or 1675 FIDE. Don’t expect to perform at your Lichess level in your first OTB event.

Use the table below to see how your Lichess ratings translate to typical over-the-board ratings based on thousands of survey results.

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📊 Help Us Improve the Data

Take the rating survey below to help expand our database. Every submission makes this comparison tool more accurate for the whole community. We will never share your email. You’ll be added to our list for occasional ChessGoals updates, course coupons, and study plan spreadsheets.