Short answer. A 700 online rapid rating is better than roughly 56% of all rated accounts — that's novice territory. Below is what a 700 player typically does well, what holds them back, and the single most useful thing to work on next.
By 700 Rapid the worst one-move blunders are getting rarer and you're starting to develop sensibly and castle. Now the losses shift: they come from two-move tactics — a check that wins a piece next move, a pin you didn't notice, a fork landing on a square you left open. You see one move ahead reliably; the second move is where it slips.
The 700 player also tends to play 'hope chess' — making a threat and hoping the opponent misses it, rather than checking what they'll do back. Replacing hope with one honest question about the reply is the real work at this band.
Every move, before you commit, check the opponent's checks, captures, and threats — looking at THEIR forcing moves is what stops the two-move tactics that sink 700s.
Want the full ladder? The chess rating percentile hub lays out every band from 400 to 2200 with where each one lands on the distribution, plus a checker for any rating in between.
Your rating won't move because you read about it — it moves when you stop repeating the mistake that keeps costing you games. The quickest way to find that mistake is to look at a game you lost: paste it into the free game review and it marks the exact move where the evaluation flipped and explains what went wrong, in about 30 seconds, no sign-up. Pair that with the band-specific focus above, then drill the underlying ideas in our opening guides or look up any unfamiliar term in the glossary. BetterChess is a practice tool — it makes finding your weakness fast, but we make no promise of any specific rating.
In online rapid, 700 is better than about 56% of all rated accounts, which puts you in the novice range. By 700 Rapid the worst one-move blunders are getting rarer and you're starting to develop sensibly and castle. Now the losses shift: they come from two-move tactics — a check that wins a piece next move, a pin you didn't notice, a fork landing on a square you left open. You see one move ahead reliably; the second move is where it slips.
Every move, before you commit, check the opponent's checks, captures, and threats — looking at THEIR forcing moves is what stops the two-move tactics that sink 700s.
Related: Chess rating percentiles · Free game review · Chess openings · Chess glossary
Percentile is an estimate from published online rapid distribution data (all rated accounts) and drifts as the player pool changes. BetterChess is a practice tool — we make no guarantee that you'll reach any particular rating. Improvement depends on your own practice and effort. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners.