Answers.Body: <p>As far as I know, Fide does not publish a figure of the Elo distribution. So you can plot it yourself from the <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml" rel="nofollow noreferrer">latest rating list</a>; or you can rely on secondary sources who occasionally post it, such the link provided by @Michael West or this <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/6359/3757">answer</a> on this site. Both show the distribution of Fide Elo on July 2014.</p>
  <p>The figure below shows the Elo distribution on December 2020. As you can see, it doesn't follow a normal distribution, since there is a large number of low rated players (much greater number than in 2014).</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GvLwk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GvLwk.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-12-23T15:10:54.980Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-12-25T09:35:50.323Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-12-25T09:35:50.323Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: lodebari
Answers.Body: <p><a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/visual-presentation-of-world-chess-ratings" rel="noreferrer">Here</a> are some fide visualizations from 2014.  Distribution is one, but not the most interesting to me.  Enjoy!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-12-24T00:12:22.730Z
Answers.Text: The _median_ rating is 1900, with 2200 (master) level not even in the top 10%!? That can't be right.
Answers.UserDisplayName: BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-12-24T01:41:06.727Z
Answers.Text: @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft I don't know exactly when it happened, but FIDE used to have quite a high minimum rating; 1900 would have been an unrated player at one point. That may have something to do with it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-12-23T15:11:18.447Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-12-23T15:11:18.447Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael West
Answers.Body: <p>I've run some queries against my database constructed from the <a href="http://ratings.fide.com/download/players_list_xml.zip" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rating data</a> downloaded from the the FIDE <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml" rel="nofollow noreferrer">download site</a>. I've then copied the output of the queries to Excel and asked it to draw some graphs.</p>
  <p>Here are the results for standard, rapid and blitz for December 2020.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/anFFh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/anFFh.png" alt="Standard rating distribution" /></a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cvLsW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cvLsW.png" alt="Rapid rating distribution" /></a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fCdqh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fCdqh.png" alt="Blitz rating distribution" /></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-12-23T23:29:34.997Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-12-23T23:29:34.997Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>In some online chess platforms you can see the Elo distribution of the players.
  It usually has Gaussian form.</p>
  <p>Is there somewhere where you can find the distribution of the classical Fide Elo?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-12-25T15:46:53.287Z
Comments.Text: I am sure it is not Gaussian.  It probably has a central hump, but Gaussian is much more specific than that.  Most real world distributions have tails that are too high for a Gaussian.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ross Millikan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-06-29T02:58:03.180Z
Comments.Text: "_It usually has Gaussian form_."  Citation or evidence needed.  I do not believe this statement to be true based on the analyses I've seen conducted.
Comments.UserDisplayName: SecretAgentMan
Tags: <rating><fide><elo><statistics>
Title: Elo distribution
ThreadText: # Elo distribution
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-23)
  
  In some online chess platforms you can see the Elo distribution of the players.
  It usually has Gaussian form.
  
  Is there somewhere where you can find the distribution of the classical Fide Elo?
  
  **Tags:** rating, fide, elo, statistics
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I am sure it is not Gaussian.  It probably has a central hump, but Gaussian is much more specific than that.  Most real world distributions have tails that are too high for a Gaussian.  
  > **username_2**: "_It usually has Gaussian form_."  Citation or evidence needed.  I do not believe this statement to be true based on the analyses I've seen conducted.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-12-23. Score: 4
  
  As far as I know, Fide does not publish a figure of the Elo distribution. So you can plot it yourself from the [latest rating list](https://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml); or you can rely on secondary sources who occasionally post it, such the link provided by @username_4 or this [answer](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/6359/3757) on this site. Both show the distribution of Fide Elo on July 2014.
  
  The figure below shows the Elo distribution on December 2020. As you can see, it doesn't follow a normal distribution, since there is a large number of low rated players (much greater number than in 2014).
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/GvLwk.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/GvLwk.png)
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2020-12-23. Score: 4
  
  [Here](https://en.chessbase.com/post/visual-presentation-of-world-chess-ratings) are some fide visualizations from 2014. Distribution is one, but not the most interesting to me. Enjoy!
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: The _median_ rating is 1900, with 2200 (master) level not even in the top 10%!? That can't be right.  
  > **username_6**: @username_5 I don't know exactly when it happened, but FIDE used to have quite a high minimum rating; 1900 would have been an unrated player at one point. That may have something to do with it.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2020-12-23. Score: 3
  
  I've run some queries against my database constructed from the [rating data](http://ratings.fide.com/download/players_list_xml.zip) downloaded from the the FIDE [download site](https://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml). I've then copied the output of the queries to Excel and asked it to draw some graphs.
  
  Here are the results for standard, rapid and blitz for December 2020.
  
  [![Standard rating distribution](https://i.sstatic.net/anFFh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/anFFh.png)
  
  [![Rapid rating distribution](https://i.sstatic.net/cvLsW.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/cvLsW.png)
  
  [![Blitz rating distribution](https://i.sstatic.net/fCdqh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/fCdqh.png)
  
  
  ---
  
  