6/2/2026 – There has been some movement at the top of the world rankings. Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana both lost rating points at the Candidates Tournament. As Nakamura's losses were more significant, both players dropped below the 2800 mark. In May, however, Caruana gained four rating points and caught up with Nakamura. As a result, Caruana is now listed in second place, with Nakamura in third. Magnus Carlsen, meanwhile, is currently competing in Norway, where one of his goals is to avoid losing rating points. He remains the clear world number one. Players ranked fourth through seventh are Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer and Anish Giri. Hou Yifan remains the world's top-ranked female player, while World Champion Gukesh is the highest-rated player in the U20 category. Anna Shukhman is the new number one among the girls.
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
And yet, things do change. For quite some time, the top of the rating list seemed set in stone: 1. Magnus Carlsen, 2. Hikaru Nakamura, 3. Fabiano Caruana. But Caruana took advantage of Nakamura's recent slide and has now caught up with him. Both players stand on 2792 rating points, though Caruana is now listed second and Nakamura third.
There could be even more movement near the top in the coming months. First place is likely to remain Carlsen's for a while, even if he drops further rating points while playing on home soil in Norway. But Nakamura, whose future participation in classical chess remains uncertain, and Caruana are now only 15 points ahead of the two young Uzbek stars Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who are tied on 2777. Just another ten points behind is Vincent Keymer on 2767. He is followed by Anish Giri, enjoying what feels like his nth spring.
India's highest-ranked player is Arjun Erigaisi in eighth place, followed by former World Champion Viswanathan Anand in 13th. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju are ranked 16th and 19th respectively.
There has been little change in the women's world rankings. The first shift in positions compared to the previous month appears only at number 11, where India's Divya Deshmukh has moved up.
World Champion Gukesh remains the highest-rated junior player in the world. Fifteen-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus is ranked second and continues to close the gap to the world champion. India's Pranav and Volodar Murzin (FIDE) held on to their positions, while Pranesh M climbed to fifth place.
Anna Shukhman is the new number one in the girls' rankings. She has moved ahead of Kazakhstan's Alua Nurman, who had taken over the top spot last month. Lu Miaoyi, who was ranked third in the previous list, slipped behind Afruza Khamdamova and Shubhi Gupta.
Stefan LiebigStefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
5/2/2026 – With the results of the Candidates Tournament and several other tournaments, there was some movement in the top of the FIDE world rankings. Javokhir Sindarov is the rising star in the overall list. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus also gained many points and extended his lead in the juniors list.
4/3/2026 – At the top three places in the world rankings, nothing has changed: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer has lost a few points and swapped places with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Hou Yifan is the highest-rated female chess player in the world, and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is the best under-20 player. Alua Nurman is the new number one in the girls' youth category.
After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
€19.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
