How the ranking works
Every game has its own ladder. Behind it, two numbers: your rank, which everyone sees, and your level, which stays hidden. Here is exactly how they move, and why.
The ranks
Seven tiers from Wood to Ruby, five divisions each: division 5 is the bottom of a tier, 1 the top. Every division is 100 LP. At 100 you move up a division and keep the surplus: 95 LP and a +22 win is the next division at 17 LP.
Above Ruby 1, Master: the best 500 of each game (see below).
How many LP a match is worth
A win always gains, a loss always costs: between 10 and 50 LP, and around 20 most of the time. It starts from 20, and two things move the number:
| Situation | If you win | If you lose |
|---|---|---|
Your opponent has your rank The most common case | +20 LP | −20 LP |
They are one division above you You Gold 3, them Gold 2 | +22 LP | −18 LP |
They are a whole tier above You Gold 3, them Platinum 3 | +30 LP | −10 LP |
You play better than your rank Your hidden level is a division higher | +30 LP | −10 LP |
You play much better than your rank Two divisions or more higher | +40 LP | −10 LP |
Both at once You play better than your rank and beat a tier above | +50 LP | −10 LP |
Your rank is too high for your level And you lose to a tier below | +10 LP | −50 LP |
At 3 or 4 players: first gains like a win, last loses like a loss, the places between fall in between (four players of the same rank: +20, +7, −7, −20). A tie is shared: between two players of the same rank, 0 LP each.
Going down, and the shield
As long as your LP stay above 0, a loss simply lowers them. The first time a loss would take you below 0, you stay in your division, at 0 LP, and your shield goes up. It shows wherever your rank does.
Shield up: your next loss takes you down a division, at 100 LP minus the loss (−20 from Gold 2 at 0 LP: Gold 3 at 80). Any win takes the shield down, however small. Wood 5 is the floor: there is nothing below, so no shield.
The hidden level
Behind your rank, the site works out your real level with Glicko-2, the method online chess uses. It learns from every match: who you beat, who beat you, and how sure it already is of you.
It does three things: find you opponents of your level, place your rank at the end of placements, and tell whether your rank is right (the second lever above).
Why not show it? Because it moves in ways that are hard to read: a lot at first, very little later, sometimes almost nothing after an expected win. That is what produced « +8 » and « ±0 ». Your rank moves in clear steps, and the hidden level makes sure it ends up in the right place.
Placements
Your first 5 ranked matches of a season are placements: no rank or LP shown while the hidden level finds you. On the 5th your rank appears, half a division under your level: what follows is a climb rather than a fall, and the « is your rank right? » lever makes up that half division within a few wins. Placements never give Master directly.
Master: the Top 500
At 100 LP in Ruby 1 there is no division left above: your LP keep climbing, with no ceiling. That is the race for Master. The 500 players with the most LP in the race are Master; the others stay Ruby 1, with exactly the same LP.
13 more LP and you pass kilo: you become Master, they go back to Ruby 1 — with their 142 LP intact.
Overtaken, you go back to Ruby 1 without losing a single LP, and take your place back by overtaking them again. The Top 500 is recomputed at the end of every ranked match. While fewer than 500 players have crossed the 100 LP line, crossing it is enough to be Master.
Seasons
A season lasts 90 days. At the next one your hidden level is drawn towards the middle (you keep 60% of your lead) and everyone plays 5 placements again. A former Ruby starts high, not from zero.