New Puzzle ratings on Chess.com - October 2025
You may have noticed your Puzzle rating looks very different, and probably lower, than before. Don’t worry, this isn’t just a downgrade within the old system. We’ve introduced an entirely new rating system and re-rated every player and puzzle on Chess.com, processing about 17 billion attempts to ensure accuracy.
The old system caused major rating inflation, which made ratings less meaningful and harder to connect with actual playing or tactical strength. It also prevented us from accurately rating puzzles, which limited our ability to serve you puzzles that were the right level of challenging. For example, in the old system:
Every solved puzzle gave at least 5 points.
Partial credit was awarded for incomplete solutions.
Other features added points just for participation.
These changes made the system 'too generous,' leading to inflated ratings for both players and puzzles.
The new Puzzle ratings use the same Glicko-style rating logic as your chess games (blitz, rapid, etc.). By removing extra point boosts and preventing inflation, your Puzzle rating is now much closer to your other ratings, and puzzle difficulty is more consistent
Keep in mind that your skill hasn’t changed! It’s simply being measured with a better yardstick. You’re just as strong a solver as before, but now your rating more accurately reflects your ability.
Puzzle difficulty
You can also adjust your puzzle difficulty to match how challenging you want them to be. The level is based on your Puzzle rating and affects how hard each puzzle feels to you.
Choosing a higher difficulty means you’ll earn more rating points for solving correctly, but the puzzles will be tougher to solve.
Standard (default): Puzzles will be challenging, but you should get most of them right. Standard puzzles will be much easier than our old puzzles, but will definitely give your brain a great workout!
Hard: Offers tougher challenges than Standard.
Extra Hard: Similar to the old Puzzle system, for those who want maximum difficulty.
How to change your Puzzle difficulty
Web
On a Puzzle screen, click the cogwheel icon at the bottom left of the right sidebar.
In the settings modal, use the first dropdown to select your preferred difficulty.
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Mobile
On the Puzzle screen, tap the gear icon in the top-right corner.
Use the first dropdown in the settings modal to choose your difficulty level.
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Check out this article to read more about this change: New Puzzles Puzzle Ratings, Difficulty Settings, And More Consistent Experience