--- title: "Online rating in chess" url: "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/online-rating.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/online-rating" last_updated: "2026-11-07" type: "reference" summary: "An online rating is the number a website or app computes from games played on that platform. Every platform builds its own rating pool." related: ["https://georgelichess.com/glossary/glicko-rating.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rapid-rating.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/blitz-rating.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/fide-rating.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rating-system.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/category/tournaments-ratings-titles.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary.md"] --- # Online rating in chess > **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. An online rating is the number a website or app computes from games played on that platform. Every platform builds its own rating pool. An online rating is the number a website or app computes from games played on that platform; it belongs to that site's player pool and is separate from FIDE and national over-the-board ratings. Every platform builds its own rating pool. Your number on one site comes only from games against that site's members, under that site's [time controls](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/time-control.md) and formula. Because pools differ in strength and in who joins, ratings across sites are not interchangeable, and the same player can see widely different numbers on two sites. Online ratings also split by time control, so a [blitz rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/blitz-rating.md) and a [rapid rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rapid-rating.md) on one account can sit far apart, just as FIDE keeps separate lists for standard, rapid and blitz play. Federations draw the same line. US Chess keeps online regular, quick and blitz systems apart from its over-the-board ones, with no formal link between them beyond how a new rating is started. FIDE's Handbook carries separate Online Arena rating regulations, and its regular titles are for over-the-board [standard chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/classical-chess.md) (Title Regulations, clause 0.3). Use an online rating as a guide to how you are doing against that site's players, not as an official strength. Read next about [Glicko rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/glicko-rating.md), rapid rating and blitz rating. It sits close to [Fair play](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/fair-play.md). Fair play is the rule that every game must be decided by the players' own thinking, which means no engine help, no advice from others during play and no tricks that distort a result. How "Online rating" applies to your own results depends on where you stand now, and the [improvement plans by rating band](https://georgelichess.com/improve.md) show what players near your rating work on. ## Related terms - [Glicko rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/glicko-rating.md) - [Rapid rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rapid-rating.md) - [Blitz rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/blitz-rating.md) - [FIDE rating](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/fide-rating.md) - [Rating system](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rating-system.md) ## Guides that go further - [Chess ratings explained](https://georgelichess.com/chess-ratings-explained.md): What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ. - [Average chess rating and a good chess rating](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles.md): What share of active Lichess players are rated above 800, 1200, 1500, 1800 or 2000, by time control. - [Chess rating calculator](https://georgelichess.com/tools/rating-calculator.md): Work out how a FIDE rating changes after a run of games. ## Sources - FIDE Handbook B.01 FIDE Title Regulations, effective 1 January 2024 (Clause 0.3), read 2026-10-21: https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B012024 - US Chess, The US Chess Rating System (Glickman and Doan), dated 6 April 2026 (Sections 1 and 7), read 2026-10-21: https://new.uschess.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/us_chess_rating_system_specs-2026-04-06.pdf [Book your first lesson](https://georgelichess.com/book.md) and George Li reviews your games and builds a study plan around them. Questions about lessons: write to hello@georgelichess.com. ## Related - [Glicko rating in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/glicko-rating.md) - [Rapid rating in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rapid-rating.md) - [Blitz rating in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/blitz-rating.md) - [FIDE rating in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/fide-rating.md) - [Rating system in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/rating-system.md) - [Chess terms: Tournaments, ratings and titles](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/category/tournaments-ratings-titles.md) - [Chess terms glossary: plain definitions](https://georgelichess.com/glossary.md)