--- title: "Is a 800 chess rating good?" url: "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/800.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/800" last_updated: "2026-11-07" type: "reference" summary: "A 800 Lichess blitz rating is higher than 2.0% of active players. See the percentile in blitz, rapid and bullet on 1 September 2026." related: ["https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/blitz.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/rapid.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/bullet.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/classical.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/600.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/700.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/900.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1000.md"] --- # Is a 800 chess rating good? > **For AI agents:** the complete index of GeorgeLiChess pages is [llms.txt](https://georgelichess.com/llms.txt). Every page is also served as markdown at its URL plus .md. A 800 Lichess blitz rating is higher than 2.0% of active players. See the percentile in blitz, rapid and bullet on 1 September 2026. A 800 rating is higher than 2.0% of active Lichess blitz players, 4.5% of rapid players and 1.4% of bullet players, measured on 1 September 2026. The median blitz rating is about 1530. Lichess ratings are a separate scale from FIDE and chess.com ratings. ## Is a 800 rating good in blitz, rapid and bullet? In blitz a 800 rating sits in the lowest tenth: it is higher than 2.0% of the 345,715 active blitz players, and 98.0% are rated 800 or higher. The same number ranks differently in each time control because each one has its own pool of players. A 800 rating ranks highest in rapid (4.5%) and lowest in bullet (1.4%). **Where a 800 rating ranks among active Lichess players on 1 September 2026.** | Time control | Higher than | Rated 800 or higher | Median rating | Active players | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blitz | 2.0% | 98.0% | 1530 | 345,715 | | Rapid | 4.5% | 95.5% | 1445 | 201,221 | | Bullet | 1.4% | 98.6% | 1640 | 169,583 | | Classical | 0.6% | 99.4% | 1560 | 12,241 | ## How far is 800 from the top 25, 10 and 1 percent? The top 25 percent of blitz players start at about 1795, the top 10 percent at about 2010 and the top 1 percent at about 2375. From 800 that is 995 points up, 1210 points up and 1575 points up. **Points from a 800 rating to each position, by time control, 1 September 2026.** | Position | Blitz | Rapid | Bullet | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Top 25% | 1795 (995 points up) | 1705 (905 points up) | 1945 (1145 points up) | | Top 10% | 2010 (1210 points up) | 1910 (1110 points up) | 2200 (1400 points up) | | Top 5% | 2135 (1335 points up) | 2025 (1225 points up) | 2345 (1545 points up) | | Top 1% | 2375 (1575 points up) | 2240 (1440 points up) | 2625 (1825 points up) | ## How many Lichess players are rated 800 or higher? On 1 September 2026, 338,637 blitz accounts, 192,229 rapid accounts and 167,227 bullet accounts were rated 800 or higher. In the 800 to 899 band alone there were 8,210 blitz accounts, 2.4% of the blitz total. ## What do the ratings around 800 look like? Between 700 and 900 the share of blitz players a rating is higher than runs from 0.8% to 4.4%. The ladder below shows 600 to 1100 in the three largest time controls. **Share of active players a rating is higher than, 1 September 2026.** | Rating | Higher than, blitz | Higher than, rapid | Higher than, bullet | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 600 | 0.3% | 0.9% | 0.2% | | 700 | 0.8% | 2.2% | 0.5% | | 800 | 2.0% | 4.5% | 1.4% | | 900 | 4.4% | 8.0% | 3.2% | | 1000 | 8.4% | 13.1% | 6.4% | | 1100 | 13.8% | 19.8% | 11.1% | ## How can a player rated 800 improve? At this level most games turn on loose pieces, so the quickest gains tend to come from tactics practice and a blunder check before every move. Reviewing your own lost games shows which kind of mistake repeats. A first lesson with George Li starts from your own games and ends with a written study plan. ## How were these percentiles measured? Accounts that played a rated game on 1 September 2026, counted once per time control at the rating after their last game, bots left out. The hub page explains the method in full. ## Frequently asked questions **What percent of chess players are rated 800 or higher?** On 1 September 2026, 98.0% of active Lichess blitz players, 95.5% of rapid players and 98.6% of bullet players were rated 800 or higher. These are Lichess players only, not all chess players. **Is 800 a good rating for a beginner?** Lichess starts every new account at 1500 in each category (Lichess FAQ, read 2026-10-20), so 800 is below the starting rating. In blitz it is higher than 2.0% of active players, which is a better guide than the number alone. **Is a 800 Lichess rating the same as 800 on chess.com or in FIDE ratings?** No. Lichess says its ratings cannot be compared with those of other sites or organizations, so this site publishes no conversion. ## Sources - [Lichess open database, standard rated games (CC0), file for September 2026](https://database.lichess.org/), read 2026-10-22 - [Lichess FAQ](https://lichess.org/faq), read 2026-10-20 - [Lichess: Chess rating systems](https://lichess.org/page/rating-systems), read 2026-10-20 ## Related - [Is a 600 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/600.md) - [Is a 700 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/700.md) - [Is a 900 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/900.md) - [Is a 1000 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1000.md) - [Is a 1100 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1100.md) - [Lichess blitz rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/blitz.md) - [Lichess rapid rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/rapid.md) - [Lichess bullet rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/bullet.md) - [Lichess classical rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/classical.md) - [Average chess rating and a good chess rating](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles.md) - [Chess ratings explained](https://georgelichess.com/chess-ratings-explained.md) - [How to get a FIDE rating](https://georgelichess.com/how-to-get-a-fide-rating.md) - [Book your first lesson](https://georgelichess.com/book/first-lesson.md) Last updated 2026-10-22. ## Related - [Average chess rating and a good chess rating](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles.md) - [Lichess blitz rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/blitz.md) - [Lichess rapid rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/rapid.md) - [Lichess bullet rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/bullet.md) - [Lichess classical rating distribution](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/classical.md) - [Is a 600 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/600.md) - [Is a 700 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/700.md) - [Is a 900 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/900.md) - [Is a 1000 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1000.md)