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Chess Courses by Rating Band

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Pick the band that matches your current rapid rating on Chess.com, then use the page for the band just below or above if you sit near an edge. The bands are approximate: a rating is a noisy estimate, and the same player can have quite different numbers on different sites.

Which rating scale this site uses

The site's default scale is the Chess.com rapid rating. We chose it because Chess.com publishes how its ratings work and keeps separate ratings per time control, so "your rapid rating" is a definite number you can look up. It is only an approximation for everyone else. If you play mostly on Lichess, in over-the-board events or in blitz, treat the band labels as a rough guide and read the neighbouring band too.

Why ratings do not line up across sites

Ratings from different organisations are not interchangeable, and no public source we could confirm gives a trustworthy conversion for every level. What the sources do support:

  • Chess.com uses a Glicko-based system with a rating deviation, and keeps separate ratings for Bullet, Blitz, Rapid and Daily that do not transfer between them (Chess.com support article, read 8 November 2026).
  • Lichess uses Glicko-2, starts new players at 1500 with a wide uncertainty, and marks provisional ratings with a "?" (Lichess FAQ). The FAQ advises against treating Lichess ratings as absolute or comparing them directly with other organisations, and says different player pools are part of why Lichess numbers run higher than FIDE, USCF and ICC.
  • FIDE publishes its rules in its handbook. Since 1 March 2024 its rating floor is 1400, so players below that appear as unrated, where the earlier floor was 1000 (FIDE Rating Regulations).
  • US Chess has a published rating system document, but we could not extract its text, so we do not state its details here.

If you want rough conversion tables, ChessGoals publishes a "Chess Rating Comparison" page (updated July 2026) with tables and a calculator. It states a method and sample sizes, but does not name its data sources, and it says FIDE data below about 1550 was removed as unreliable. Treat it as one outside estimate, not a standard. We do not reproduce its numbers.

Choose your page

Core bands

  • Under 1000: free material first, with the beginner courses that have published detail.
  • 1000 to 1400: covers players up to about 1499; how to find which weakness costs you the most games before choosing study.
  • 1500 to 1800: starts at 1500; mostly what to study, since we found no evidence a course is needed, with analysing your own games first.
  • 1800 to 2000: general courses thin out, so a coach, an advanced course or game analysis may matter more; the page maps what sellers publish.
  • Above 2000: few general courses are aimed here; the page describes what sellers publish, and our guidance is weakest at this level.

The 1000 to 1400 page runs up to about 1499 and the 1500 to 1800 page starts at 1500, so no one falls between them. If you are near that edge, read both.

Situation pages

What to do next

If you are unsure of your rating, play a few rapid games on one site and use that number rather than guessing. Then run the chess course finder, or read how to choose a chess course. Before paying for anything, check free chess training resources and how we review.