Chess rating system facts for kids
A chess rating system helps us figure out how good a chess player is. It's like a score that shows a player's strength compared to others. The higher the number, the stronger the player!
These systems are used by chess groups all over the world, including FIDE, which is the International Chess Federation. If a player does better than people expect, their rating goes up. If they don't play as well, their rating goes down. The most famous system is called the Elo rating system. FIDE and many countries use it.
The first modern rating system appeared in 1939. It was used by a group called the Correspondence Chess League of America. Over time, different systems were tried. The US Chess Federation (USCF) started using the Harkness system in 1950. Later, in 1960, the USCF switched to the Elo rating system. FIDE then adopted the Elo system in 1970.
How Chess Ratings Work
A chess rating tries to guess how well a player will do against others. Imagine a player with a certain rating. The system predicts how many games they should win or lose against players with different ratings.
If the player wins more games than predicted, their rating goes up. If they win fewer games, their rating goes down. A special math calculation figures out how much the rating changes. Today, computers do all the hard work! They collect all the game results and update the ratings. Then, a new list of player ratings is published.
A Quick Look at Chess Rating History
- 1933 – The Correspondence Chess League of America was the first big group to use a number-based rating system.
- 1948 – The Ingo system was created and used in West Germany. It was one of the first systems to become well-known.
- 1950 – The USCF started using the Harkness system. They published their first rating list. Reuben Fine and Sammy Reshevsky were at the top!
- 1959 – A smart man named Arpad Elo was asked to study all the rating systems. He was going to suggest the best one.
- 1961 – Elo created his own system, which the USCF started using.
- 1970 – FIDE, the world chess organization, began using the Elo system. Bobby Fischer was the top player on the list at that time.
- 1978 – Arpad Elo wrote a book about his rating system.
- 2001 – The Glicko rating system was introduced.
- 2005 – Chessmetrics, another rating system, was published by Jeff Sonas.
