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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “chess”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “chess”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

WP Shredderchess shows at wp.org #4 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin places #2 on merit, 5.0★ from 103 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 RPB Chessboard 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #1 2 Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin 7K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #7 5 too low 3 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Chessgame Shizzle 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Super Simple Event Calendar 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 6 Embed Chessboard 500+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Chess Podium — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑4 9 WP Shredderchess 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 English Chess Data 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 Elo Rating Shortcode 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Human2Human Chess Duell — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓3 13 Chess Pattern — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 14 Amathia: Accessible Dropdown Menus 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 Pure PGN Viewer 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 LNC Chessboard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Chessdiag — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 ChessPairings — Tournament Showcase — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 P PgnViewerJS 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 20 D DWZ-Vereinsliste — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 pgn-viewer-for-lichess 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 KAPOW Image Recommendation — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Chess 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 C Chess 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.