chess equivalent of shodan

In Go (and a range of other competitive activities in East Asia), there are kyu and dan rankings. The kyu ranks count down to 1, and the lower the number the less you suck.

My comment submitted when I tried to add a paragraph break. Anyway, dan ranks count up from 1, and 1 dan is shodan, at which I've heard it said that you can be said to actually understand the game. The kyu ranks suggest that you're still learning the basics. What might be a comparable chess equivalent, at which the player can be safely assumed to be playing basically competent chess?

Please ignore this duplicate post. Somehow I created it twice, and there are comments in the other copy.