Questions for Variant players

1. What is the theoretical ratings range (the lowest ratings possible to the highest ratings possible) of the Chess.com Variants?
2. What is the lowest Variants ratings reached by Chess.com players?

i believe the rating cap is 800 to 2750 for variants, not really sure though

Hey there,

1. The lowest rating technically achievable should be 300. I'll double check and get back to you on the highest rating though. I've seen several players with ratings of 3300 and higher (I think there was a teams player who hit 4000ish at one point(?))

2. The lowest rating I've actually seen on variants is around 800. This is essentially due to illegal sandbagging though.

it seems like there is no highest rating, imagine a pyramid or ratings, there would be the 2000's who would farm the 1500 to keep their rating stable, then the 3000's would play the 2000's to keep their rating, then you would have three 4000 players, who would sometimes play with the 3000's to keep their rating, but sometimes play with one 5000 player to increase his rating. (reminds me of a food chain, you need middle level herbivores to support the top carnivores)

this seems to say that as the community grows bigger and has an unending supply of "plants" (aka-1500s) then it could support any amount of rating, right?

unless there is some hard falloff point where rating changes get smaller?

If in this forum has the highest & lowest elo players, this question can be answered. Otherwise, they always play with the best/ the worst and others can't know.

Yep, up until a few years ago 4000+ was possible until a cap on 3499 was added; lowest sandbagged rating I’ve personally seen is in the negatives, although otherwise I’ve only ever seen a 1100.

I saw a legitimate player who was 1012 rated and hung mate after 4 moves and then asked if they were winning

Wow, 4000 used to be the highest? Thats is HIGH! But I think they should change the rating cap back to 4000, or even 4500.

Until somebody demonstrates an ability to get above 3400 with the current rating system, there’s really no reason to increase the cap