Ratings and seasons

Your rating is a number that tries to say how well you play, worked out from games against people whose numbers it also knows. StupidChess uses Glicko-2 for it, the same system most online chess sites run, with a leaderboard, seasons and badges on top. It's simple to live with and odd to look at, so here are the questions people actually ask, with the answers.

What counts as a rated game?

A game is rated when all of these are true: it's on a digital board, with the app tracking the moves; it's against a person; Rated was left on when the game was made, which is the default on the new-game form; and both seats are accounts. If a guest sits down in a room-code game, or you join your own game from a second session, the game quietly turns itself unrated.

Robot games are never rated, however hard the robot. Neither is a game over a real board, since the app only hears the result. Each card mode keeps its own ladder.

I resigned on move one. Why did nothing change?

A game against a person that ends before each side has made a board move is aborted: no result, no rating change, and it doesn't appear in your stats. That's resignations, disconnects, flag falls and agreed draws that early. Checkmate and the other ends the rules decide always stand.

The rule exists so two accounts can't trade wins by resigning at each other. It isn't free, though: Quick Match pauses a player who keeps aborting its games.

Why did my rating drop more than my opponent's rose?

Because the system was less sure about you. Glicko-2 keeps a second number beside your rating, the rating deviation or RD, which is how uncertain it is. Each player's change is sized by their own RD, so a new account swings fifty points while a settled one moves ten in the same game.

The gap between the two ratings matters too. Beating someone far above you is worth a lot; beating someone far below barely moves you. Losing works the same way in reverse.

Why does my rating have a question mark?

A new rating starts at 1500 with an RD of 350, which is the system's way of saying it has no idea. Every game shrinks the RD, and after a good number of games it settles somewhere around fifty. Until it's under 110, the rating is provisional, and the app marks it with a question mark. A real number, but not one anyone should bet on yet.

Provisional ratings move fast on purpose. If you're really an 1800, you'd rather get there in fifteen games than a hundred.

I came back after a break and my first game moved me a lot. Why?

RD grows back while you don't play. Every idle day fades the system's confidence in your number a little, by an amount set by your volatility, up to the 350 a new player has. A rating that hasn't been tested for months is treated as less certain than one that has, so your first games back move you more. Leave it long enough and a settled rating turns provisional again, question mark and all. A few games put it right.

Why am I not on the leaderboard?

The global leaderboard shows the top fifty on each ladder, and to be on it at all you need a settled rating (no question mark) and a rated game in the last ninety days. Stop playing and you drop off, however high the number; one rated game puts you back. The page says which of those is the reason when you're missing.

The leaderboard is a snapshot of who's playing and winning now, not a hall of fame. That's what seasons are for.

Can I keep my rating off the board?

Yes. Settings, Privacy, "Show me on leaderboards". Turn it off and you keep your rating and simply aren't listed; the page still shows you the rank you'd have. The friends leaderboard shows you to your friends either way.

When do seasons start?

A season is a calendar quarter in UTC: January to March, April to June, and so on. The first one is 2027 Q1. Until then, rated games move your rating as usual but count toward no season, the Season board names the season to come, and nothing is closed or reset.

How do I get placed in a season?

Ten rated games on a ladder in the season. Once placed, you appear on the Season board in the tier your current rating puts you in: Pawn below 1200, Knight from 1200, Bishop from 1400, Rook from 1600, Queen from 1800, King from 2000. The same settled, active and not-hidden rules apply as on the global board.

Does a new season reset my rating?

No. The Glicko-2 rating runs on unbroken; nobody goes back to 1500. When a season closes, the final standings are recorded and every rating's RD is raised to at least 100. That's a nudge, not a wipe: it stays under the provisional line of 110 on purpose, so the new season's boards aren't empty on day one, but the first games of a season move everyone a little more than the last games of the one before. A rating coasting on old results has to prove itself again.

What does the badge beside someone's name mean?

A closed season's reward is a badge for each ladder you finished placed on. Its label is the season in short form, so 2027 Q1 is '27.1, drawn in the color of the tier your rating sat in at your last rated game before the boundary. You own a badge forever; it can't be bought, traded or taken away, and you can wear one beside your name, where it shows everywhere your name does. Switch between the ones you own whenever you like.

Someone wearing a '27.1 in King colors finished the first season placed on that ladder at 2000 or better. That's all it says, and it's enough.

Does Quick Match care about my rating?

It pairs by it. The queue records your rating on that ladder (none counts as 1500), and the allowed gap starts at 100 points and widens the longer you wait, until after a minute anyone will do. A guest only meets guests and accounts with no rating yet. After a minute it also offers you a robot fitted to your rating; a field guide to the robots says what you'd be taking.

So what should I actually do?

Mostly nothing. Play rated games against people and the number looks after itself. Don't dodge stronger opponents; a loss to an 1800 costs a 1500 almost nothing and a win is worth a lot. And ignore the number for your first dozen games. It's finding you, and it'll be wrong until it has.

It knows nothing about your deck, your robot wins, or how well you handled a Hall of Mirrors turn. It knows who you beat. Everything else is in your profile.