Chess Insights

The "Rating Gainers" metric highlights players who are currently outperforming their expected score. In the Elo system, gaining rating points becomes exponentially harder as you climb the ladder. A gain of +10 points for a player rated 2700 is a significant achievement, indicating a tournament performance (TPR) well above 2750.

"Recently Active" tracks the number of standard games played in the current period. Activity is crucial for maintaining form. While some veterans play selectively (15-20 games a year), rising stars often play 80+ games annually to gain experience and rating. Exceptions exist, like Alireza Firouzja, who maintained a high rating despite periods of inactivity.

Short-term variance can be misleading. Our Year Evaluation metric filters out the noise of a single bad tournament to show the long-term trajectory of a player's career. Consistently positive yearly growth is the hallmark of a future World Championship challenger.

Our insights are derived from live FIDE rating data, updated daily. We track Classical time control games primarily, as this remains the gold standard for assessing chess strength. Junior status is also monitored, as the rate of improvement for U20 players often defies standard K-factor expectations.