The ladder

Ranks

Your rating is a number. Your rank is what it means. You start as a Pawn and you climb — piece by piece, then title by title. Nobody hands these out: every one of them is won on a real board, inside the café.

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Mastermind Champion
The ceiling. Nobody has an easy game against you.
2100+
Mastermind Elite
Top of the room on any given night.
2000–2099
Mastermind Expert
Very few people in the café can hold a game against you.
1900–1999
Mastermind Strategist
You win games before the tactics arrive.
1800–1899
Mastermind Candidate
Past the pieces. You are chasing a title now.
1700–1799
Monarch
The strongest piece on the board, and now the strongest in the room.
1600–1699
Rook
Solid. You beat the people you should beat.
1500–1599
Bishop
You see the whole board, not just your side of it.
1400–1499
Knight
You know the openings and you punish loose play.
1300–1399
Pawn
Everyone starts here. One good week moves you up.
Under 1300

Five pieces, then the Mastermind titles. Everyone climbs the same ladder — the rank you reach depends on your rating and nothing else.

How the rating moves

Beat someone stronger and you gain a lot. Beat someone weaker and you gain a little. Lose to someone weaker and it costs you. That is Elo, and it is the same maths FIDE uses.

New players move faster so they find their real level sooner:

First 10 games±40 max
Games 10 to 30±20 max
After that±10 max

Rules of the climb

Café games only. Online games and FIDE games do not count here. This rating is earned at the table.
Both players confirm. Nothing moves until you and your opponent agree on the result.
12 rated games a day. Play as much as you like after that — the games are still recorded, they just stop moving your rating. It keeps the ladder honest.
Ranks can go down. Badges cannot. Reaching 1800 is a moment, and moments are not taken back.

See the leaderboard Champion Wall