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How good is a 3100 chess player?

Rates are per 100 live moves: moves played while the game is not already decided.

What the terms mean
Centipawn.
A hundredth of a pawn, the unit a chess engine scores a position in. Giving up a pawn for nothing costs about 100.
Centipawn loss.
How much worse a move is than the best move in the position. The average (ACPL) counts every move a player makes.
Blunder, mistake, inaccuracy.
A move that loses at least 150 centipawns is a blunder, at least 70 a mistake and at least 40 an inaccuracy. Only live moves are counted.
Only move.
A position where one move is clearly better than every other. “Finds the only move” is how often a player plays it.
Time trouble.
Less than a tenth of the starting time left on the clock. “Games in time trouble” is the share of games in which a player's clock got that low on any move, however the game stood.
Winning, better, balanced, worse.
How the engine scores the position for the player about to move. Balanced is within half a pawn either way, better is up to a pawn and a half ahead, winning is from there up to three pawns ahead, and worse is up to a pawn and a half behind.
+1, +2, +4.
A lead of at least one, two or four pawns by the engine's score. A lost position is one that has fallen two pawns behind or worse.
Percentile.
The share of a site's players who are rated lower. Blitz and rapid players are ranked separately.
Site
Time control

How strong is 3100 Elo?

Over99.99%of Chess.com blitz players are rated below 3100

Fewer than 0.01% are rated 3100 or higher: about 150 players.

4.1blunders per 100 live moves

Chess.com blitz 3+0Chess.com blitz players at each rating
02040500100015002000250030003100Chess.com rating

What a 3100 actually does

Measure300031003200+
Blunders4.54.13.7
Mistakes7.47.06.5
Inaccuracies8.58.17.7
Average centipawn loss32.531.028.6
Plays the engine's top move45%46%47%
Finds the only moveshare of positions with one real answer88%89%90%
Game length47.248.949.7
Live moves per gamemoves played while the game is not already decided33.635.135.8
How they use the clock
Games in time troubleunder a tenth of the clock39%40%38%
Seconds per move3.43.33.3
Instant movesplayed in two seconds or less61%62%63%
Clock left at move 8share of the starting clock93%93%93%
Clock left at move 15share of the starting clock78%78%78%
Clock left at move 30in games that get there39%39%40%
Clock left at move 50in games that get there15%15%16%
Moves played inside a scrambleown clock under a tenth8.9%9.7%9.4%
What the game looks like
Games that end decisivelywon or lost, not drawn90%89%88%
Reaches an endgame47%49%48%
Capturesper 100 own moves21.220.920.7
Checksper 100 own moves6.97.07.1

How others play against a 3100

Measure3000vs 31003100vs 31003200+vs 3100
Score against them38.9%50.0%63.1%
Score after reaching +165%76%81%
Score after reaching +276%83%88%
Ever loses from +412%6%5%
Score from lost positionsgames where their eval fell to minus two18%22%30%

Each column is how players of that rating do in their games against a 3100. The 3200+ column is everyone rated 3200 or above.

Where a 3100 blunders

Measure300031003200+
When in the game
Opening0.50.50.3
Middlegame5.04.54.0
Endgame8.47.67.3
In what kind of position
Winning7.77.16.2
Better2.42.21.7
Balanced2.32.21.8
Worse4.34.13.3
With how much clock left
Over half2.01.71.4
25 to 50%5.65.04.4
10 to 25%8.27.56.7
Under 10%12.911.911.6
With which piece
Queen6.05.95.2
Rook5.75.24.8
Knight4.03.53.0
Bishop3.63.22.9
Pawn3.43.12.7
King5.04.74.3

The four rows under “In what kind of position” leave out positions that are already won or already lost. Throwing away a won game still counts in the overall blunder rate, which is why that rate can be higher than all four.

When a 3100 blunders most

Blunders per 100 live moves

When in the game

Most in the endgame: 15 times as often as in the opening.

  • 3100, Opening: 0.5
  • 3100, Middlegame: 4.5
  • 3100, Endgame: 7.6

In what kind of position

Most when winning: 3.2 times as often as when better.

  • 3100, Winning: 7.1
  • 3100, Better: 2.2
  • 3100, Balanced: 2.2
  • 3100, Worse: 4.1

With how much clock left

Most with under 10% of the clock: 7.0 times as often as with over half the clock.

  • 3100, Over half: 1.7
  • 3100, 25 to 50%: 5.0
  • 3100, 10 to 25%: 7.5
  • 3100, Under 10%: 11.9

With which piece

Most on queen moves: 90% more often than on pawn moves.

  • 3100, Queen: 5.9
  • 3100, Rook: 5.2
  • 3100, Knight: 3.5
  • 3100, Bishop: 3.2
  • 3100, Pawn: 3.1
  • 3100, King: 4.7

How much 3100-rated players differ

Measure5%25%75%95%
Blunders3.33.94.65.2
Mistakes5.96.57.58.3
Inaccuracies7.07.68.59.2
Finds the only move85%87%90%92%
Seconds per move2.9s3.1s3.5s3.8s
Games in time trouble21%30%48%59%

Each column is a share of 3100-rated players: a quarter are at or under the 25% figure, three quarters at or under the 75% one.

The move quality range a 3100 plays in

3000 to 3200+is how half of 3100-rated players play, going by how often they blunder

Nine in ten: 2900 to 3200+.

Of 100 players rated 3100, how many blunder

  • like a 3000 or lower28
  • like a 310053
  • like a 3200+19

What separates a 3100 from a 3200+

Skill, and what trains it31003200+Gap
Opening blundersthe first ten moves of your openings0.50.329% lower
Middlegame blundersa check-captures-threats scan every move4.54.012% lower
Sees the deeper wincalculating past the third move of a line64%70%+6 pts
Composure after an errorresetting after you drop something2.9%2.7%6% lower
Endgame blundersrook endings and king activity7.67.35% lower
Trades down when aheadconverting an advantage by liquidating74%77%+3 pts
Finds the forkknight and queen forks, both directions75%79%+4 pts
Finds the defensive savedefending worse positions instead of collapsing75%76%+1 pt
Takes the free materialspotting hanging pieces before anything else95%96%+1 pt
Finds the quiet best movepositions where nothing is forcing80%80%no gain

What a 3100 plays

As White

  • 1.e4 King's Pawn 45.5%, scores 59.2%
  • 1.d4 Queen's Pawn 36.3%, scores 58.6%
  • 1.Nf3 Réti / Zukertort 10.9%, scores 63.7%
  • every other move 7%

Against 1.e4

  • 1...c5 Sicilian Defense 40.5%, scores 57.2%
  • 1...e5 Open Game 26.9%, scores 53.0%
  • 1...c6 Caro-Kann Defense 11.7%, scores 57.7%
  • every other move 21%

Against 1.d4

  • 1...Nf6 Indian Defense 65.6%, scores 54.8%
  • 1...d5 Closed Game 22.0%, scores 53.8%
  • 1...g6 Modern Defense 2.6%, scores 70.5%
  • every other move 10%

3100 on each site and time control

Played onBlundersMistakesInaccsACPLOnly move
Chess.com blitz 3+04.17.08.131.089%
Chess.com blitz 5+0ladder ends at 2500
Chess.com rapid 10+0ladder ends at 2600+
Lichess blitz 3+0ladder ends at 2900+
Lichess blitz 5+0ladder ends at 2500+
Lichess rapid 10+0ladder ends at 2600+

A rating number only means something inside one pool. Full conversion tables

What punishes a 3100

Share of all blunders, by the idea that refuted them

Most often a piece left hanging: 16% of all blunders, against 17% at 2800.

  • 3100, Piece left hanging: 16%
  • 3100, Pawn or promotion: 10%
  • 3100, Losing exchange: 10%
  • 3100, Quiet move: 10%
  • 3100, Pin or skewer: 7%

Frequently asked about 3100-rated players

Answered for Chess.com blitz 3+0, the choice at the top of the page.

Is 3100 a good chess rating?

Yes, 3100 is a very strong chess rating. Over 99.99% of Chess.com blitz players are rated below 3100, and the middle player there is rated about 485.

What percentile is 3100 Elo?

A 3100 rating is above the 99.99th percentile on Chess.com. Under 0.01% of Chess.com blitz players are rated 3100 or higher, which is about 150 players. On Lichess, over 99.99% of blitz players are rated below 3100. Every rating side by side: the Chess.com rating guide.

How accurate is a 3100 rated chess player?

A 3100-rated player plays the engine's top choice on 46% of moves in Chess.com blitz 3+0 and loses 31.0 centipawns per move on average. No rating below 3100 plays the engine's top choice on more than 45% of moves.

How many blunders does a 3100 make per game?

A 3100-rated player makes about 1.5 blunders per game in Chess.com blitz 3+0, counting a move that loses at least 150 centipawns while the game is not already decided. The first rating to average under 1.5 blunders a game is 3200+.

Do 3100 rated players blunder more in time trouble?

Yes, a great deal. With under 10% of the clock left, a 3100-rated player blunders 7.0 times as often as with more than half of it. A 3100 gets that low on time in 40% of games in Chess.com blitz 3+0. The effect is smaller lower down: 5.3 times as often for a 2800.

What mistakes do 3100 rated players make?

16% of the blunders a 3100-rated player makes in Chess.com blitz 3+0 are a piece simply left hanging, the most common kind. That share is 17% at 2800. Blunders involving a quiet move grow at this level: 10%, up from 8% at 2800.

When in the game do 3100 rated players blunder most?

A 3100-rated player blunders most in the endgame in Chess.com blitz 3+0: on 7.6 of every 100 live moves there, against 4.5 in the middlegame and 0.5 in the opening. The endgame is also played on the least clock, so much of that is time pressure rather than weak endgame play. It takes until 3100 for the rate in the middlegame to drop under 5 in every 100 live moves.

What openings do 3100 rated players play?

As White in Chess.com blitz 3+0, 45.5% of players rated around 3100 open with e4, the King's Pawn, and 36.3% open with d4, the Queen's Pawn. Around 2800, e4 is opened by 48.1%. Against e4, the most common reply is c5, the Sicilian Defense, played in 40.5% of games, ahead of e5, the Open Game, at 26.9%.

How does a 3100 do against a 3200+?

A 3100 scores 36.9% against a 3200+ in Chess.com blitz 3+0. Against a 3000 they score 61.1%.