How to Scout Your Next Opponent on CoreSquares
By Corey Zapin
Find Your Opponent
Start by searching for your opponent's name, USCF ID, FIDE ID, or online username. CoreSquares cross-references all four platforms, so even if you only know their USCF name, you might find their linked Chess.com and Lichess accounts too.
If your opponent has a common name, try searching by their USCF ID (listed in the tournament's player list or on uschess.org). This gives you an exact match.
Check Their Ratings and Trends
The profile page shows all of your opponent's ratings at a glance: FIDE, USCF, Chess.com, and Lichess. Look at the rating history to see if they are on an upswing (be cautious, they might be underrated) or a downswing (they might be less sharp than their rating suggests).
Pay attention to which time controls they play most. A player who mostly plays bullet online will play differently in a classical game than someone who primarily plays slow OTB chess.
Study Their Openings
The analytics panel shows which openings your opponent plays as White and Black, along with their win rates in each line. This is the most actionable part of the scouting report.
If they always play the Italian as White, prepare your best line against it. If they respond to 1.e4 with the French Defense 80% of the time, you can prepare a specific anti-French setup rather than studying five different openings.
Look at their opening weaknesses too. If they have a 30% win rate in the Scotch Game, consider steering the game in that direction.
Read Their Playing Style
The attribute scores (Attack, Defense, Time Management, Mental Resilience) tell you what kind of player you are facing. A high-attack, low-defense player will try to create chaos. Keep the game solid and they may overextend. A high-defense, low-attack player will try to grind. Play actively and do not let them settle into a comfortable position.
The psychological insights can be especially useful in multi-game situations. If your opponent has low Mental Resilience, winning game one puts enormous pressure on them for the rest of the match.
Build Your Game Plan
Combine everything into a simple game plan before you sit down at the board. You should know three things: what opening you plan to play, what kind of middlegame you want to reach, and how aggressive or conservative you need to be.
Keep it simple. Do not try to memorize 20 moves of preparation. Just know the first 8 to 10 moves of your chosen line, understand the plans, and have a general sense of your opponent's tendencies. That is enough to give you a real edge at the club level.
After the tournament, revisit the profile and compare what you expected with what actually happened. Over time, you will get better at reading scouting reports and translating them into results.