Lichess vs Chess.com ratings, explained
The same player is usually rated higher on Lichess than on Chess.com. Neither site is wrong — they are two separate populations with two separate starting points.
A rating only has meaning inside its own pool. Both sites use a Glicko-style system, but they seeded it differently and their player mixes differ, so the numbers drifted apart and stayed apart. The gap is not a constant: it is widest through the middle of the distribution and narrows towards the top, which is why a single "subtract 250" rule of thumb misleads exactly where people use it most.
| Lichess | Chess.com |
|---|---|
| 800 | ≈ 400 |
| 1,200 | ≈ 800 |
| 1,600 | ≈ 1,250 |
| 2,000 | ≈ 1,750 |
| 2,400 | ≈ 2,250 |
| 2,800 | ≈ 2,750 |
| Lichess | Chess.com |
|---|---|
| 800 | ≈ 450 |
| 1,200 | ≈ 900 |
| 1,600 | ≈ 1,350 |
| 2,000 | ≈ 1,800 |
| 2,400 | ≈ 2,250 |
| 2,800 | ≈ 2,700 |
| Lichess | Chess.com |
|---|---|
| 800 | ≈ 500 |
| 1,200 | ≈ 950 |
| 1,600 | ≈ 1,400 |
| 2,000 | ≈ 1,850 |
| 2,400 | ≈ 2,300 |
| 2,800 | ≈ 2,750 |
| Lichess | Chess.com |
|---|---|
| 800 | ≈ 500 |
| 1,200 | ≈ 950 |
| 1,600 | ≈ 1,400 |
| 2,000 | ≈ 1,850 |
| 2,400 | ≈ 2,300 |
| 2,800 | ≈ 2,750 |
A conversion is an approximation of a population, not a promise about one player. Two people with the same Lichess rating can sit 100 points apart on Chess.com.
The table below is the map this site uses. Between two anchors it interpolates; past the last anchor it stops and says so rather than extrapolating, because beyond the data an honest range beats a confident wrong number.
Common questions
Why is my Lichess rating higher?
Different starting points and different populations, not different skill. Your position within each site is the part that compares.
Which rating is the real one?
Both are real inside their own pool. If you want one number that travels, use your percentile rather than your rating.
How accurate is the conversion?
It is an approximation of a population, not a promise about one player. Two people with the same Lichess rating can sit a hundred points apart on Chess.com.
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.