Play chess against a 1600-rated computer

A 1600 player calculates a few moves ahead, defends its pieces and plays purposeful plans. You win by outplaying it slowly, or by a well-prepared tactic.

64

average loss per move (centipawns)

4.2

big blunders per 100 moves

4.2s

average think, 10-minute game

6

moves it looks ahead

For comparison, real Chess.com rapid players around 1600 lose about 59 centipawns per move (measured on their own games, the same way). The bot is Sharp Idris (1600): see how the bots are built.

You are a solid club player and want games where you have to earn the win.

1. 1Improve your worst piece before launching an attack.
2. 2Avoid weaknesses around your king: it will find the attacking moves.
3. 3Practise rook endgames: equal-looking endings are where 1600s go wrong.

Measured on 41 Chess.com players' public games, November 2026.

We picked random public Chess.com players rated 400 to 2000 and took their 5 most recent rapid games. Stockfish scored every move they played from move 5 on, comparing it with the best move, and we averaged the loss per move. We fitted a smooth trend through all the players so no single game sways a rating, then ran our bots through exactly the same measurement.

Correction: our first version used textbook reference values that overstated human mistakes; the bots are now tuned to these measured numbers.