Grandmasters are now achieving their Titles at an earlier age than ever

Chess ratings can be tricky to navigate with different organisations (ECF and FIDE) and categories (OTB or online, standard, rapid and blitz) so we’re here to help! This guide will give chess parents a feel for how ratings work and advise how to choose suitable tournaments for your children.

Before we continue, it’s important to stress that ratings are only one measure of chess progress. Focusing too closely on rating is likely to have the opposite of the desired effect and may well lower the quality of your child’s chess. Skill development and enjoyment naturally lead to improved ratings over time – play and study regularly and your rating will take care of itself.

Chess Federations

The English Chess Federation (ECF) and World Chess Federation (FIDE) each keep their own separate rating lists. ECF ratings are a good starting point for children and, for more advanced players, FIDE ratings form the basis for chess master titles.

ECF Membership

ECF membership is a must if you want to play rated games. There is free membership available for a child’s first year by selecting the ‘Free Junior Gold’ category. Chess Rising Stars is listed in the Clubs filter and can be selected as a Nominal Club on registration.

ECF Tournament Calendar

The vast majority of UK tournament organisers will list their events on the ECF site. Their tournaments are categorised by ECF and FIDE ratings filters plus for the time control. You can quickly find suitable local tournaments for either age or rating.

When starting out we would recommend contacting the organiser first to check if the tournament is beginner-friendly. For more experienced juniors, have the following prestigious tournaments in mind: Autumn Term = London Junior Chess Championships + Qualifiers, Spring/Summer Terms = UK Chess Challenge & EJCOA National Youth Championships, Summer Holidays = British Junior Chess Championships.

Time Controls

Tournament games can be played at standard/classical (slowest), rapid and blitz (fastest) timings. Typically a standard tournament will take a whole weekend, rapid tournaments will last a day and blitz are for an evening. Junior students tend to start out with rapid events and move to standard when they are more experienced and generally play more slowly. Players will receive separate ratings for each of the above time controls.

ECF Online Ratings

Ratings are further separated into over-the-board (OTB) and online categories. For example, Chess Rising Stars students compete in both the J4NCLO and 4NCLO online team competitions.

Rating Databases

ECF and FIDE ratings are both updated on the 1st of each month. On the databases below you can search by surname, club affiliation or age group:

ECF Rating Database
FIDE Rating Database
Chess Rising Stars Students

Further Questions

Please do drop us an email if we can support you further: london@chessacademy.uk

I envy football fans who still look forward to a new season. As a Norwich City fan, the off-season is infinitely preferable.

Take last August, we opened with a 2–0 loss to newly promoted Oxford. Then there was a moment during the first round of the EFL Cup that stays with me:

Two minutes after taking the lead, a Stevenage freekick floated gently over our defenders, reached an unmarked player on the edge of our 6-yard box and nestled into the bottom corner from the header for 1-1.

The camera cut to Johannes Hoff Thorup, our newly hired (now fired) manager, shaking his head with glazed eyes.

I suspect he was thinking about Philidor.

Which brings us to endgame training. When done well, it’s the chess equivalent of having practised thousands of hypothetical freekicks. You can become grim, repetitive and reliable, unlike Norwich’s defenders, fully prepared for both common and uncommon scenarios. 

Queen vs Rook is a perfect example, full of neat bits of geometry and calculation exercises that will improve your general chess understanding. Let’s first see what might go wrong.

What Not To Do

When the black King is on the edge of the board, there are two main defensive tries to be aware of:

1. … Rb6+!
1/2 – 1/2

White is unable to capture the Rook because of stalemate but neither can we move away because of the skewer.

1. … Ra7+!

Again, the Rook is immune because of stalemate. This time White will either get caught in a perpetual on the a- b- and c-files or, if we try running away, there’s a pin on the d-file:

2. Kb6 Rb7+
3. Kc5 Rc7+

(3. Kc6 transposes to the stalemate defence)

4. Kd5 Rd7!
1/2 – 1/2

Good Chess Culture

Here’s where François-André Danican Philidor can step up and show us how it’s done:

This instructive zugzwang was supposedly found by the man himself. Black is forced to separate the King and Rook because keeping them connected immediately loses:

1. … Rg8
2. Qh5#
1-0

1. … Kh6
2. Qf8! picks up the Rook
1-0

Once Black separates the Rook, we have a nice pattern of checks leading to a fork or mate:

1. Qe4+ Kh8

(1. … Kf8 2. Qh4#)

2. Qa8+ Kh7

(2.  … Rg7 3. Qh1# is pretty)

3. Qa7+!
1-0

With White to move, we need to Bend it Like Philidor™

1. Qe4+ Kg8
2. Qa8+ Kh7
3. Qe8

Et voilà, the triangulation brings us back to the zugzwang.

Of course, there are plenty of other winning methods to explore in just this one endgame but hopefully you have acquired a taste of what it takes to effectively manage a football team handle this endgame. 

One must imagine Philidor happy.

Chris Russell

Additional content:
Interactive ‘Bend it Like Philidor’ lichess study
(22/07/25)

At Chess Rising Stars, we frequently receive enquiries about English Chess Federation (ECF) membership. To assist parents and new players, we have created this comprehensive guide.

Here you will find everything you need to know about ECF membership, including categories, benefits, common issues, and essential tools.

To register and manage your membership, visit the ECF Just Go portal.

Membership Categories Explained

ECF membership is divided into four categories: Supporter, Bronze, Gold, and Platinum. Below is a summary of the benefits that each offers:

Supporter (£12)

• Access to ECF online members clubs and events on chess.com and lichess.
• Free online rating of results in all ECF rated online events.

Bronze (Adults £20, Juniors £6)

• Free rating of results in club competitions, leagues and county championships.
• The right to elect representatives to present the views of individual members to the ECF Council.

Gold (Adults £35, Juniors £12)

• Free rating of results in club competitions, leagues, county championships, congresses and FIDE-rated standard play tournaments.
• The right to elect representatives to present the views of individual members to the ECF Council.

Platinum (£77)

• As per Gold plus a print copy of the ECF Yearbook each year.

Currently, juniors can register for their first year for free by selecting the ‘Free Junior Gold’ membership category.

All of the above categories are eligible for the various benefits and discounts available here.

Chess Rising Stars can be selected as your ‘Nominal Club’ and you will appear on our ECF Rating list.

Registering for Tournaments

Many in-person tournaments will have an ECF membership requirement. Alternatively, you will be asked to pay an additional game fee on top of your entry fee.

Each rating database profile will have a membership number and a grading code. When registering for a tournament you will be asked for one or both of these. You can find them either on the ECF Rating Database or through your Just Go account.

ECF membership is also a requirement for rated online team competitions. Chess Rising Stars compete in both the Junior 4 Nations Chess League Online (J4NCLO) and 4NCLO events.

The ECF Rating Database is updated monthly to include results from these events.

Troubleshooting

When entering tournaments, ensure to provide the exact same spelling of your name and surname. This avoids multiple rating profiles being created. If you have had this problem, then emailing – and requesting a merge will combine the profiles.

If you are adding two or more children to the ECF membership database at this time, make sure you choose a username for each of them in turn, rather than accepting the default (your email address) as each subsequent child added will otherwise trigger a ‘username already in use’ dialogue box.

ECF Tools

Membership Portal
Rating Database
Club Finder
Calendar
Development Pathway

Ready to join the ECF and start playing chess tournaments? Click here to register and explore all the benefits today!