High Rated Members

I have a quick question:

I see a lot of   > 2200 members here at Chess.com who aren't even NM. How can that be?

chess.com ratings aren't FIDE or USCF ratings

Yup, it's a ranking system that is comparitable only within itself. This is the same with other systems. Although, most folk with a FIDE rating say that their chess.com rating is inflated by about 100-200 if that's any help to you :)

Yes, chess.com ratings are quite inflated. I have never even made 2000 USCF, and was rated over 2200 here, at one point.

It can be a curious thing, certainly something that draws attention. But I've got some good friends that are rated in that area without being NMs, and I can be fairly certain they aren't cheating to get their ratings.

Of course, all my friends have their SOB degrees.

I graduated Magna cum laude in that school

Some probably are, but just don't want to go through the trouble of faxing Erik whatever they need to fax. Also, I'm sure that some are computer cheats (if you cheat using a computer and are still rated 1300 then you should buy a new computer).

I am rated some 300 points lower than my USCF rating at my prime.

This may be because

a) I do not know the current openings as good as I did them.

b) I play for fun now.

c) Maybe my chess brain has had some of its neurons diverted to other areas.

d) When I find a player who beats me, I play them as much as I can.

e) Sometimes I play when I am tired but not sleepy.

My chess.com rating is 1724, but I'm no better than a friend who's rated 1100 USCF!

something must be said that the chess.com ratings we're talking about here are essentially correspondence, whilst FIDE and USCF, etc. are all OTB, and most low-mid level tournaments have relatively rapid time controls. Live chess is a different story...