How KG Rated (Offline) Is Calculated

Every time control is classified using FIDE's official formula: D = base minutes + increment seconds (FIDE's Rapid & Blitz Rating Regulations — "the time allotted plus 60 times any increment", which is arithmetically the same as base minutes + increment seconds over a nominal 60-move game).

Standard, Rapid, and Blitz each carry their own separate rating — a bullet-category time control never affects any rating.

Ratings are calculated using Glicko-2, a refinement of the classic Elo system (the same foundation FIDE's own rating system is built on) also used by major platforms like Lichess. Besides the rating number itself, Glicko-2 tracks two more things: Rating Deviation (RD) — how confident the system is in your rating, and Volatility — how consistent your performance has been over time.

New players start at rating 1200 with RD 350 (uncertain) and volatility 0.06. The more you play, the lower your RD gets — your rating becomes more stable and stops swinging wildly after every game.

Rating swings aren't a fixed number of points like older systems — the size depends on who your opponent is and how confident the system is in both of your ratings. Beating a higher-rated opponent gains you more points than beating a lower-rated one; conversely, losing to a lower-rated opponent costs you more points than losing to a higher-rated one. A draw against an evenly-matched opponent barely moves the needle, but a draw against a much stronger opponent still nudges your rating up (and vice versa — a draw against a much weaker opponent nudges it down).

RD also affects how big that swing is: the higher your RD (newer/less certain), the bigger the rating jump per game — the system is still "figuring out" your real strength. Established players with a low RD see smaller, more stable swings, even for the same win/loss/draw result.

Only OFFLINE (OTB) tournaments organized by King Gambit itself affect KG Rated (Offline) — whether paid or free.

An offline tournament organized by anyone else (a third-party organizer) never affects your KG Rated (Offline). This keeps King Gambit's KG Rated (Offline) trustworthy — only results from tournaments King Gambit actually oversaw count.

If you already have an official FIDE rating, you can submit a one-time verification request from your Profile page — enter your FIDE ID, and an admin will cross-check it (FIDE has no public API for automatic verification).

If approved, your KG Rated (Offline) is set directly from your FIDE rating per category, with RD 200 — more confident than a new player starting at RD 350, since there's real performance evidence behind it.

This verification can only ever be done once per account, and once a category is approved it can never be overwritten again.