Are Titles and Ratings Overrated?
By Cameron W. · Wed, 28 Oct 2026
Hikaru Nakamura Says Titles and Ratings No Longer Tell the Whole Story, and Points to 17-Year-Old Iranian FM Artin Ashraf as Proof
Every so often a top player says out loud what many people in chess have been thinking for a while: the numbers next to a name do not always match the player behind them. This week it was Hikaru Nakamura, according to a summary posted on October 27 by ChessBase Nepal, and his chosen example was a teenager from Iran.
What Nakamura said
As ChessBase Nepal tells it, Nakamura believes FIDE titles and online ratings no longer reflect a player's true strength. His example was Artin Ashraf, a 17-year-old Iranian FM, whom he described as "basically GM strength" and estimated at 2550 to 2600 in classical chess. He also noted that online ratings of 3200, once seen as extraordinary for an unknown player, have become increasingly common.
That is the account of a third party. The original remarks, whether from a stream, an interview or the Champions Showdown broadcast, were not found, so the exact wording and context are unconfirmed.
The numbers behind the claim
The official record bears out most of the outline. According to FIDE, Ashraf was born in 2008 and earned the FM title in 2022. His standard rating is 2470 on the October list, and his rapid and blitz ratings are 2274 and 2389. FIDE marks the standard and rapid ratings as inactive, which normally means no recent rated games in those formats. His page lists no norms. A grandmaster title requires a 2500 rating and three norms, so the "30 more rating points and three GM norms" in the ChessBase Nepal post works out about right.
The online figure is harder to pin down. ChessBase Nepal gives his Chess.com blitz rating as 3181. His Chess.com profile does not show current ratings in the version reviewed, though his recent games from 2026 list ratings between about 3138 and 3204, without saying which time control. That is consistent with the post but not an exact match.
A fair question, with some caveats
The gap Nakamura describes is plausible. A player can sit at 2470 on the classical list and still be playing at a much higher level, especially a teenager improving faster than the lists can update. It is even more likely when the rating is inactive and months out of date. A title, too, is a snapshot: Ashraf's FM was awarded when he was 13 or 14.
There is a reason to be careful, though. Online and over-the-board ratings sit on different scales, and 3200 on one site is not a 3200 anywhere else. Nakamura's 2550 to 2600 is an estimate, not a measurement. Titles and ratings also give organizers, federations and fans a common yardstick for players they have never seen, and that is what Nakamura's point puts under pressure.
What to watch
The simplest test is over the board. Ashraf needs classical games, and plenty of them, to turn an impression into norms. If the numbers catch up with Nakamura's estimate, the question of how much a title really tells us will keep coming back.
