--- title: "Is a 900 chess rating good?" url: "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/900.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/900" last_updated: "2026-11-07" type: "reference" summary: "A 900 Lichess blitz rating is higher than 4.4% 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/700.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/800.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1000.md", "https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1100.md"] --- # Is a 900 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 900 Lichess blitz rating is higher than 4.4% of active players. See the percentile in blitz, rapid and bullet on 1 September 2026. A 900 rating is higher than 4.4% of active Lichess blitz players, 8.0% of rapid players and 3.2% 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 900 rating good in blitz, rapid and bullet? In blitz a 900 rating sits in the lowest tenth: it is higher than 4.4% of the 345,715 active blitz players, and 95.6% are rated 900 or higher. The same number ranks differently in each time control because each one has its own pool of players. A 900 rating ranks highest in rapid (8.0%) and lowest in bullet (3.2%). **Where a 900 rating ranks among active Lichess players on 1 September 2026.** | Time control | Higher than | Rated 900 or higher | Median rating | Active players | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blitz | 4.4% | 95.6% | 1530 | 345,715 | | Rapid | 8.0% | 92.0% | 1445 | 201,221 | | Bullet | 3.2% | 96.8% | 1640 | 169,583 | | Classical | 1.6% | 98.4% | 1560 | 12,241 | ## How far is 900 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 900 that is 895 points up, 1110 points up and 1475 points up. **Points from a 900 rating to each position, by time control, 1 September 2026.** | Position | Blitz | Rapid | Bullet | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Top 25% | 1795 (895 points up) | 1705 (805 points up) | 1945 (1045 points up) | | Top 10% | 2010 (1110 points up) | 1910 (1010 points up) | 2200 (1300 points up) | | Top 5% | 2135 (1235 points up) | 2025 (1125 points up) | 2345 (1445 points up) | | Top 1% | 2375 (1475 points up) | 2240 (1340 points up) | 2625 (1725 points up) | ## How many Lichess players are rated 900 or higher? On 1 September 2026, 330,427 blitz accounts, 185,053 rapid accounts and 164,103 bullet accounts were rated 900 or higher. In the 900 to 999 band alone there were 13,662 blitz accounts, 4.0% of the blitz total. ## What do the ratings around 900 look like? Between 800 and 1000 the share of blitz players a rating is higher than runs from 2.0% to 8.4%. The ladder below shows 600 to 1200 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% | | 1200 | 20.5% | 27.4% | 16.5% | ## How can a player rated 900 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 900 or higher?** On 1 September 2026, 95.6% of active Lichess blitz players, 92.0% of rapid players and 96.8% of bullet players were rated 900 or higher. These are Lichess players only, not all chess players. **Is 900 a good rating for a beginner?** Lichess starts every new account at 1500 in each category (Lichess FAQ, read 2026-10-20), so 900 is below the starting rating. In blitz it is higher than 4.4% of active players, which is a better guide than the number alone. **Is a 900 Lichess rating the same as 900 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 800 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/800.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) - [Is a 1200 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/1200.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 700 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/700.md) - [Is a 800 chess rating good?](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles/800.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)