News Why our chess puzzles use belts instead of ratings
Why our chess puzzles use belts instead of ratings
If you have ever looked at a chess puzzle site, you have probably seen something like this: "Rating 1200–1600." Or a level called "Club". Or "Expert".
To a chess player, that is useful information. To almost everyone else, it is a small wall.
What does 1200 mean? Is that good? Is it for me? Am I a "club" player if I have never been to a chess club? And "Expert" sounds like a place you are not invited.
None of that has anything to do with whether you would enjoy the puzzles. So we changed it.
Belts, White to Black
Every puzzle set on Remarkable Chess now comes in five belts, borrowed from karate:
- White belt. New to chess puzzles? Start here.
- Yellow belt. You know how the pieces move.
- Orange belt. You play now and then.
- Brown belt. You play often and spot tactics fast.
- Black belt. Bring your hardest look.
That is the whole system. You don't need to know anything about chess ratings to read it.
Why a metaphor works better than a number
Almost everyone already knows how belts work, even people who have never set foot in a dojo. White is where you begin. Black is where you are headed. There are a few colours in between, and you move up one at a time.
That picture does three useful things.
It makes starting at the bottom feel normal. Nobody is embarrassed to wear a white belt. It just means you are new, and everyone was new once. A number like 400, on the other hand, can feel like a grade. A low one stings a little, even when it shouldn't.
It shows you the path. A rating is a point on a scale with no obvious next step. A belt has a next belt. Finish a White belt set, and the Yellow belt is right there.
It takes the jargon away. The goal of this whole site is to make chess puzzles feel like something you'd do with a coffee, the way you'd do a crossword or a sudoku. Words like "tactics", "ELO" and "Expert" make it sound like homework, or like a test. Colours don't.
The numbers are still there, if you want them
Ratings are not going away. They are just not the first thing you see. If you already know your puzzle rating on Lichess or Chess.com, here is how it lines up:
- White belt: 400–800
- Yellow belt: 800–1200
- Orange belt: 1200–1600
- Brown belt: 1600–2000
- Black belt: 2000–2500
The puzzles themselves haven't changed either. They still come from the Lichess open puzzle database, and each one is rated by how real players did when they tried it. That is where those numbers come from.
Which belt should I start with?
If you are not sure, start with White belt, Mate in 1. Every puzzle has exactly one move that wins the game on the spot. If you know how the pieces move, you can solve them. It is the gentlest way in.
A good rule: pick the belt where most puzzles take you a minute or two of honest thinking. If you are breezing through, move up a belt. If most of them have you stuck, move down one. Going back a belt is not failing. It is just choosing puzzles you'll actually enjoy, and enjoying them is the point.
If you have an older set
Some older PDFs still use the previous level names. Here is the mapping, so nothing gets lost:
- Beginners is now White belt
- Novice is now Yellow belt
- Club is now Orange belt
- Advanced is now Brown belt
- Expert is now Black belt
Same puzzles, friendlier names.