Tournament Play
What is a category in chess?
- Competition
- Format
- Scores
Category is a tournament term: the category of a tournament is a measure of its strength based on the average FIDE rating of the participants. The category is calculated by rounding up the number: (average rating − 2250) ÷ 25. So each category covers a 25-point rating range, starting with Category 1 which spans ratings between 2251 and 2275. This affects how games are organized, scored, paired, or decided.
category FAQ
What is a category in chess?
Category is a tournament term: the category of a tournament is a measure of its strength based on the average FIDE rating of the participants. The category is calculated by rounding up the number: (average rating − 2250) ÷ 25. So each category covers a 25-point rating range, starting with Category 1 which spans ratings between 2251 and 2275. This affects how games are organized, scored, paired, or decided.
How do you get better at using a category?
Competition terms matter because they affect incentives, pairings, and risk decisions.
Train this pattern on your own games
Reading a definition is not the same as spotting the pattern with a clock running. Chessiro's free game review runs Stockfish 18 over every move you play, names the concept behind each mistake, and turns the positions where it cost you into training puzzles. You can also see the idea in action in the classic games collection, where the greatest players in history demonstrate it.
Free game review
See where category decides your games
Chessiro reviews your games with an AI coach that names the concept behind every mistake, then drills you on the exact positions where it happened until you stop repeating them.
