so what is average

here`s a question i`d like an answer to , what is an average rated chess player, im in a tourney called c class 1300 1600. is that average? the average player on here seems to be 1300 ,but if they were to play an outsider (lol) someone who says "yeah i can play chess" they would kick thier ass, so fill this page with your answers please!!

 I would think the average player is rated somewhere between 1300 and 1500.

 what is an average rated chess player?

 it depends...:

 we can only calculate average for a group (of whatever) meassured by the same parameters, for example:

FIDE (international chess federation) uses the same parameters to meassured the performance of active chess players when they play in FIDE rated competions, thus allowing FIDE to calculate average, low, and high performance etc.. among the active players who play in FIDE rated competions.   FIDE is not able to calculate average performance, low, and high performance etc.. for players who don't play in FIDE rated competions.  Beause of the usual relatively high playing extrength expected in FIDE rated tournaments, it is believed by most chess followers that a player rated by FIDE as being of average playing strength should also be above average playing extrength for any competions not rated by FIDE (not nessesarly true, but mostly it should be the case), so what we could consider (in most cases) as avarage performance for a 'FIDE tournaments' player will probably allow such player a way above average performance in non FIDE rated competions...

what is average? 

(when it comes to chess) I would say that avarage is the most commun levels of performance found in a group of chess players in which their performance is measured using the same standards

 note: but even all of the above (or similar) is not 'the last word' when it comes to measuring the playing extrength of chess players or competitive extrength of players of any sport for that matter, there are always chances that performance measuring systems could overrate and underrate participants, and there are also those who just do not take part in any performance rating system.... (let's just say that there are lots of unknown Mir Sultan Khans out there waiting "to spank anybody's behind" no matter who they might be) 

Average chess player in the USA is considered to be around 1400 so i guess 1300-1500 is a decent range to call average. Im pretty sure the average on playchess.com is slightly above 1400 according to their stats. Of course, people who play on different play sites and at tournaments will be more into their chess than the average joe but thats not to say that all people progress past the 1600 mark. When i played tournaments there were guys who were stuck at the same rating (or in the same grading section) for years! I looked at some rating lists and those people are still hovering around the same grade some have even lost 100 points or so.

If you think about that stats there are alot of people at the top that bring the average rating up but at the bottom there are many newcomers to the game who bring the average down. Assuming that many people pick up the game (like other things like going to the gym) they play a little get 'decent' and then do other things in life or are happy enough to play at the standard they are and dont really tru to progress. This bulk of players are definatley the mode players which is probably slightly lower than the average. The reason i assume that is the people who do try their hand at getting better hit 1600-1800 and some people break the 2000 barrier. Again, i guess that the rate at which people enter the rating lists and the rate at people break the 2000 barrier is probably the same?! Both extremes cancel each other effectivly and the mode being 1300-1500 should be greater than 1600-1800 thus giving a right skewered profile. Ok, a little technical and heavy on the assumptions so let me conclude in less technical terms =)

 sniperghost360 gives a good idea of what the average is. On the otherhand ericmittens gives a view that the average may be a little stronger but if you hang around chess tournaments and chess websites thats where the more serious players will be which of course will increase the average.

Well, he asked what the average "rated" chess player was which means the player has to play in OTB tournaments to get a rating. Again, from my experience most adults who play in tournaments regularly and take chess reasonably seriously are in the 1600-1800 range. For kids this is a completely different story as most of the grade-school kids who attend tournaments regularly are in the 1100-1400 range.

1300-1500

 Your overlooking that people can play OTB get a rating and then that rating stagnates. Active players and people playing regular tournaments generally will be stronger than the average. People who have just learned or are going through a 'chess phase' will be lower rated of course and people dont give up chess forever, they go back and start playing using what was their stagnated rating.

Maybe this is of some use

http://www.jaderiver.com/chess/ratings.html#AVG