XP, ELO & Rank Tiers
ChessVS measures progress through three separate systems. Each one has its own set of tier names, so your rating tier, your XP Rank and your Tempo can never be mistaken for one another.
Your profile header keeps your rating, your XP total, and your progress toward the next tier side by side so you can see all three systems at a glance.
| System | What it measures | Resets? |
|---|---|---|
| ChessVS Rating (ELO) | Your chess skill — your matchmaking strength | Carries between seasons |
| XP Rank | Your career progress — every match, quest and event you've played | Never resets |
| Tempo | Where your Tension Gauge begins | Drops 1 level each season |
On your Profile, tap your XP Rank, your rating, your Tempo or your XP and a small card explains it: your own number, how it works, and the full ladder. Try them here on a sample header, then move the sliders to see where another rating or XP total would sit.
Your profile header: tap a number
The same cards open from your own Profile in the game. Each one shows your number, how it works in a few lines, and where to read more. The ranges and amounts are the game's own.
ChessVS Rating — the seven rating tiers
ChessVS Rating is your matchmaking ELO, the number that places you against players of similar skill. It starts at 1,200 and moves after every Quick, Casual and Ranked game. Friendlies, Sovereign Duels, AI games and tournament games don't change it, and neither does an Abandoned game. It carries between seasons, because skill doesn't evaporate.
Your rating places you in one of seven tiers, and your tier shows on your profile next to your rating:
| Tier | ELO | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Novice | 800–1,099 | Brand new, finding your feet |
| Apprentice | 1,100–1,299 | Learning the systems |
| Intermediate | 1,300–1,499 | Comfortable with cards |
| Advanced | 1,500–1,699 | Confident competitor |
| Expert | 1,700–1,899 | Strong, consistent |
| Master | 1,900–2,099 | Highly skilled |
| Grandmaster | 2,100+ | The very top of the ladder |
Your tier follows your actual rating, up or down. The tiers are labels, not gates. A rating below 800 (only possible from before the 800 floor existed) still counts as Novice.
How fast your rating moves
Every rated game moves your rating by the standard Elo formula: beat a higher-rated player and you gain more; lose to a lower-rated one and you drop more. How far it moves also depends on where you are:
- Your first 30 games move it faster. Games in Quick, Casual and Ranked all count toward the 30, so you reach your true tier quickly.
- After that, it moves by your tier. The higher your tier, the more slowly your rating moves, so a top rating is hard-earned and stays stable. This is the same in Quick, Casual and Ranked.
- It can't drop below 800. A loss or a draw that would take you under 800 stops at 800.
Each player's rating moves at their own speed, so what one player gains is not always what the other loses. A newcomer in their first 30 games gains more from beating a Master than the Master loses.
| Where you are | Speed | K |
|---|---|---|
| Your first 30 games | Fastest | 40 |
| Novice | Fast | 32 |
| Apprentice | 24 | |
| Intermediate | 20 | |
| Advanced | 16 | |
| Expert | 12 | |
| Master and Grandmaster | Slowest | 10 |
Your speed is set by where you are when the game starts. K is the most one game can move your rating.
Your ELO rating itself follows you between seasons. Season rewards are earned fresh, from the highest rating tier you reach, so each season is a fresh competition for the top.
XP Rank — the five career ranks
XP Rank measures everything you have ever played. Unlike your rating, it only ever goes up: every player can reach Legend if they play enough at a high enough win rate, and nobody has to lose ground for you to gain it. It never resets — a rank you reach is yours to keep.
| Tier | XP Range | Planned unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Scout | 0 – 4,999 | Where every player starts; the Blitz tournament bracket |
| Challenger | 5,000 – 14,999 | Ranked tournament bracket, an alternate board theme |
| Veteran | 15,000 – 34,999 | Club cosmetic variants |
| Champion | 35,000 – 79,999 | Grand Championship qualifier (also needs ELO 1,600+), full cosmetic variants |
| Legend | 80,000+ | Grand Championship direct seed, season-exclusive collectible and cosmetics |
Today XP Rank is your career badge; it doesn't lock anything. The unlocks in the table, including rank-gated tournament brackets, are arriving in a later update.
Every match queue — Quick, Casual and Ranked — is open to all ranks. Ranked matchmaking sorts by ChessVS Rating, not by XP tier, so you never have to grind XP to play ranked.
XP Rank is a separate track from ChessVS Rating — they can be at different levels. A player with a high ELO who plays sparingly will sit lower on the XP ladder. A player with average ELO who plays a lot of ranked matches will climb XP faster.
Tempo
Your Tempo is where your Tension Gauge begins each match. Every player starts at Debut; spending FOCUS moves it up (tap the Tempo chip on your profile, then Upgrade), so you arrive further into the fight and reach your Focus Level 2 and 3 cards sooner. The three levels are named for the phase of a chess game you effectively open in:
- Debut — free, and where every player starts.
- Midgame — unlocked with FOCUS.
- Finale — unlocked with more FOCUS.
See the Tension Gauge page for what each level grants.
At the start of every season your Tempo drops one level: Finale becomes Midgame, Midgame becomes Debut, and Debut stays put. You never fall further than one step, so a season that went badly doesn't undo everything you built.
How you earn XP
XP is earned only by playing — it cannot be purchased.
Match play
| Result | XP |
|---|---|
| Win | +300 |
| Draw | +150 |
| Loss | +60 |
| Tournament round played to at least 8 moves | +450 |
| Friendly or Sovereign Duel | +90 |
| Your first completed match — one time only | +500 |
The award is the same in Quick, Casual and Ranked — the outcome is the whole of it, and there is no separate bonus for a checkmate, a flawless board or a decisive card. Ranked pays more FOCUS than the other queues, but the same XP. Practice games against the AI pay XP only, for the first three games each day.
Your recent matches show every result that earned you XP, and each one has a highlight button so you can replay how it went.
Quests
Three match quests are up each day, and together they pay up to +900 XP:
| Quest | XP |
|---|---|
| Win 1 match | +180 |
| Play 3 matches | +360 |
| Activate a Battle Card ability | +360 |
When the Puzzle quest, Clear the Daily Gauntlet, is running, it adds +240 XP a day.
Each quest also pays FOCUS. Quests unlock on your third day of play and reset at midnight UTC. See Quests for how they work and which matches count.
Two of the three match quests don't depend on winning, so a day that went badly on the board can still be a good day for your rank.
Tournaments
| Event | XP |
|---|---|
| Every round you play to at least 8 moves, win or lose | +450 |
| Winning the tournament | +1,200 |
There is no bonus for reaching the semi-finals and no multiplier on match XP. A tournament round is the single richest thing you can play — worth more than a ranked win — because showing up for the whole event is the part worth rewarding.
Not yet earning XP
Puzzles on their own don't pay XP or FOCUS; the Daily Gauntlet pays only through its quest, when that quest is running. Season-long conduct bonuses — a clean season with no timeout forfeits, a sustained win rate, a high match count — are designed but not live yet. This page will say so the day they are.
Plan your climb
Set what a normal day looks like for you and see how far the next XP Rank is, how many wins, draws or losses would cover it, and what the same day pays in FOCUS.
XP ladder & FOCUS planner
4,370 / 5,000 XP · 630 XP to Challenger
1,620 XP a day
720 from matches + 900 from quests
To reach Challenger (630 XP) in matches alone:
- 3 wins
- 5 draws
- 11 losses
| Rank | XP to go | At this pace |
|---|---|---|
| Challenger | 630 | 1 day |
| Veteran | 10,630 | 7 days |
| Champion | 30,630 | 19 days |
| Legend | 75,630 | 47 days |
500 FOCUS a day
400 from matches + 100 from quests
Ranked pays 150 a win, 75 a draw, 50 a loss. Quest FOCUS sits outside the 500 daily cap.
5,000 FOCUS, the price of the Midgame Tempo level, is about 10 days at this pace.
The game's own numbers: a win 300 XP, a draw 150, a loss 60, the same in every queue. A match counts for FOCUS and quests once it reaches at least 8 moves. A tournament round played to at least 8 moves pays 450 XP, more than any queue win, and is not counted here.
What resets, what stays
Nothing about your XP resets. XP Rank is a career record: every match, quest and event you have ever played still counts, and a rank you reach is yours permanently.
Drops one level each season: your Tempo, Finale to Midgame, Midgame to Debut.
Carries between seasons: your ChessVS Rating (ELO) · every XP rank you've reached · a permanent marker for every season you finished at Legend.
Seasons are competed on ELO gained during the season, not on XP. That's what makes a season winnable by a new player: the board ranks how much you improved, so a 900 who climbs 300 points finishes above a 2,000 who climbs 20.
Sovereign Duels — public callouts
Sovereign Duels are live. From the lobby, you can call out any player in public. They have 48 hours to accept, the match is played in the open where everyone can watch, and the result goes on the record for the whole club to see.
The Sovereign Duels tile in the lobby is where you start a public callout, and it spells out the rules before you commit.
When someone calls you out, the challenge lands here with Accept and Decline buttons, a countdown showing how long you have left to answer, and the other open callouts around the club below it.
Duels sit outside the ladder: no rating change and no FOCUS. They pay the same flat +90 XP a friendly does, so a duel still counts toward your rank — but nothing else is on the line except pride, which in a public callout is plenty.