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How do ratings work? Does the site link to my USCF (or other international) rating?

Learn how ChessKid chess and puzzle ratings work, how they change with games and puzzles, and why they may differ from official ratings.

Updated over a week ago

Ratings on ChessKid

ChessKid maintains two ratings for each account: a chess rating and a puzzle rating. These ratings are specific to ChessKid and are not tied to any official rating system. However, as a student plays more games, their ChessKid rating may begin to better reflect their playing strength.

Chess ratings

Chess ratings start at 800 and will go up or down based on wins and losses. How much the rating changes after each game depends on your current rating, your opponent’s rating, and how many games each of you has played. As you complete more games, your rating will generally change less dramatically than it does at the beginning.

Resigning before making a move (canceling a game before it starts) will cause your rating to drop.

Puzzle ratings

Puzzle ratings also start at 800 and change as you solve puzzles. Solving puzzles correctly will lead to more challenging puzzles over time.

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