ChessWorld.net, founded in 2000, is an online chess site.If you would like to play relaxed, friendly online chess, then...
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Online Ratings vs. Real Life: Why Are They Different?
A common scenario: You reach a 1600 rating online. You feel confident. You walk into your first local chess club tournament, and you get crushed by a 1200-rated player. Why? Are the ratings broken? No—they are just measuring different things.
1. Different Systems: Glicko vs. Elo
FIDE (Real Life) uses the Elo system. It is conservative. You start unrated and slowly build up.
Online Servers use the Glicko-2 system. This system starts you at a baseline (often 1200 or 1500) and moves you rapidly to find your level.
Mathematically, 1500 Glicko is not the same as 1500 Elo.
2. The "Pool" of Players
A rating is only valid relative to the people you play against.
- The Online Pool: Includes millions of beginners, casual players on phones, and people distracted by TV. This inflates the average rating. Being 1500 means you are better than the average casual user.
- The FIDE Pool: Includes only people serious enough to pay fees, travel to tournaments, and sit for 4 hours. The "average" FIDE player is much stronger than the "average" internet user.
3. Time Control Impact
Most online ratings are built on Blitz (5 minutes) or Rapid (10 minutes). FIDE ratings are largely built on Classical (90+ minutes).
Being good at Blitz requires intuition and mouse speed. Being good at Classical requires deep calculation and patience. Many "Online Killers" struggle OTB (Over-the-Board) because they lack the patience to think for 20 minutes on a single move.
4. The "Exchange Rate" (Rough Estimates)
While exact conversion is impossible, a general rule of thumb is often applied:
Real FIDE Rating ≈ Online Blitz Rating - 200 to 400 points
Example: If you are 1800 online, you might perform around 1400-1500 in a FIDE tournament. However, correspondence ratings (like on ChessWorld) often correlate better with understanding than Blitz ratings do.