Welcome to www.mobile.chesselo.com! This site provides simple explanation of the Elo rating system and chess rating calculation in FIDE. On pages 1-4, you can read how the Elo system works, how the chess rating is calculated, how to become a Grandmaster.
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On this site, you can also find beautiful chess puzzles with the solution hints and solutions. They are here to improve your chess. The puzzles are divided into two categories: chess puzzles for intermediate chess players and those for beginners.
Elo Rating System General Description
The Elo rating system is named after Dr.Arpad Elo, who improved the original chess rating system developed by Kenneth Harkness. The Elo system has been in use in the US since 1960 and was taken on by FIDE in 1970. It is twofold:
1st. The Elo rating system shows how strong the player is. Chess Player A rated 2500 is stronger than Chess Player B rated 2000. But sometimes the stronger Player A loses Player B, and his rating is going down while the rating of the weaker player up...
2nd. The Elo rating system calculates the results of a chess game, tournament or chess event as numerical results which are easy to be read. For example if your Performance Rating is 2570, you are playing like a strong International Master.
If your Performance is 2450 and you have met the International Master norm requirements, you will get the IM Norm. If your Performance is 2600 and you have met the Grandmaster norm requirements, you will get the GM Norm.
If you have 3 Grandmaster Norms and you hit anytime the current rating 2500 (once is enough, only once, then the current rating may go down or up, does not matter before the norm or after), you will become a chess Grandmaster.
If your Expected Result was 4.50 and you scored 4.5, your rating will no change. If your Expected Result was 7.28 and you scored 6, your rating will go down. If your Expected Result was 5.00 and you scored 5.5, your rating will go up...
The following is the main Elo results in the Elo chess rating system: Rating Increase or Decrease, Rating Change, New Rating, Performance Rating, Grandmaster and International Master Norms, Expected Result, Opponents Average.
Please pay attention to the term "Elo chess rating system" in the above sentence. It is because the system is being used not only in chess, but in a number of other sports and computer games. But here, we will discuss only chess.
The chess Elo rating system also uses the K-factor or K-coefficient. The possible values of the K-factor in FIDE are 10, 15 and 30. The second most commonly used K-factor value combination is 16, 24 and 32 in some other rating systems...
The K-factor
The K-factor is to be assigned to the chess player. The K-factor may range from 10 to 45 for different chess organizations. FIDE uses the following rules for the K-factor:
• The K-factor is 30 for players new to the rating list, until they have completed events with a total of at least 30 games;
• The K-factor is 15 for players with a rating under 2400;
• The K-factor is 10 once the player has reached 2400 and been registered for at least 30 games. Thereafter it remains permanently at 10, even if the player’s rating is under 2400 at a later stage.
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