Chess rating distribution
What the whole rated population actually looks like, drawn from the same data this site uses to work out your standing.
The shape is the point. Ratings cluster heavily in the middle and thin out fast at both ends, which is why a few hundred points near the median moves you past far more people than the same jump near the top. The curve below is the live distribution, not an illustration.
400–2800 · 0
What we measured
| chesscom blitz | 657,474 | 2026-08-01 |
|---|---|---|
| chesscom bullet | 336,344 | 2026-08-01 |
| chesscom classical | 38,941 | 2026-08-01 |
| chesscom rapid | 466,867 | 2026-08-01 |
| lichess blitz | 657,474 | 2026-08-01 |
| lichess bullet | 336,344 | 2026-08-01 |
| lichess classical | 38,941 | 2026-08-01 |
| lichess rapid | 466,867 | 2026-08-01 |
Where you land on it is the only comparison that survives being moved between sites, between time controls, and between years.
Common questions
Where does most of the population sit?
In the broad middle. The exact midpoint differs by platform and time control — the table on "What is a good chess rating?" gives it per band.
Why does the curve differ between sites?
Because the two rating pools were seeded differently and never converged. The shapes are similar; the axis is shifted.
How often is this updated?
The date above is the day the underlying distributions were last pulled. It is a manual refresh on purpose, so the basis of every percentile on the site never changes unattended.
Data updated 2026-08-01
Chess.com publishes no rating distribution. Those figures are derived from the Lichess distribution mapped through the conversion anchors, and are rounded accordingly.