What is a FIDE rating?

Type your name into ratings.fide.com, and there you are, on the same list as the world champions. That list holds every FIDE-rated chess player on Earth, grown-ups and kids. FIDE, the world chess federation, keeps the list. Your rating is a number that shows how strongly you play right now. A rating from a national chess federation is kept on a different list. An online rating counts only on its own website. A FIDE rating comes from real games at a real board.

How your first number is born

• The Rated Event sticker shows how to find a FIDE-rated tournament.
• Your 5 games against rated players can come from more than one tournament.
• Any of the three speeds counts: slow games, fast games or very fast games. Five rapid games, the fast kind, give you a rapid rating.
• Your first number is 1400 or higher, because FIDE gives no rating lower than that.

If you lose a few of those five games, that is normal, and you still get your number.

When does the number come?

Your number does not come on the same evening. FIDE makes a new list on the first day of every month. You also get a FIDE ID, which is your own player number.

What the number does next

From now on, every rated game moves your number up or down. You are learning fast, so your number may move fast too.

How you get the sticker

Your grown-up or coach checks it and hands you the sticker. Show them your name and number on ratings.fide.com, or show your FIDE ID. If you have no club, your grown-up at home looks it up with you. Did you get your rating before you had the passport? It still counts. If your rating drops below 1400 later, the sticker stays, because you earned it and it is yours.