12/1/2018 – FIDE's December ratings are out and surprisingly little has changed across all rating categories. The World Championship did not lead to a new number one. The Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun will have to wait to claim the number one spot as well, since Hou Yifan played in the German League and is in no danger of dropping off the rating list due to inactivity despite her ongoing University studies. There was more of a shakeup in rapid and blitz ratings thanks to India's first ever super-tournament which featured both. | Pictured: Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun survived a strong challenge to hang on to her title, not unlike a certain Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: ugra2018.fide.com

11/1/2018 – The vast majority of the world's best players were active in October thanks to the Batumi Chess Olympiad, the European Club Cup and the Chess.com Isle of Man International. So there's a lot to get to in this month's ratings update. Of course noteworthy is the closeness of the combatants in the upcoming World Championship, and Radoslaw Wojtaszek made good use of his 24 games played as he gained 22 Elo points to move back into the Top 20. Here Radek is pictured alongside his wife Alina Kashlinskaya who jumped 30 points and entered the Women's Top 20! | Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com Isle of Man

10/1/2018 – All eyes are on Batumi and the Chess Olympiad which is sure to radically shake up the top rating lists, but that will only happen in November. October ratings are therefore a bit less useful as a snapshot in time than other monthly updates from FIDE. Nevertheless, we take a brief look at what's new and notable. The main events of the month, driving rating changes were the Russian Championships (Open and Women) and the World Junior Championships (Open and Girls) | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / Russian Chess Federation

9/1/2018 – September is here, and as the month kicks off we check in with the FIDE rating lists to see how a busy (northern) summer season has shaken thinks up Elo-wise. Magnus Carlsen's top spot in both classical and blitz was briefly threatened, but he remains the king of all formats. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

8/1/2018 – July was relatively quiet, with the annual super tournament in Dortmund exerting the most influence on FIDE's classical ratings. It was a good month for Ian Nepomniachtchi who is now number 11 in the world in both classical and rapid chess. | Photo: Ritvo Photography

7/1/2018 – June was a busy month for rapid and blitz ratings with some players playing 36 games of the latter. In terms of classical performances, Sam Shankland has earned himself the cover of American Chess Magazine as he has continued his ascent among the 2700 echelons. Wesley So made a big leap in rapid ratings, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda is now the top junior. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/1/2018 – Ding Liren is at a career best 2798 on the Elo ratings and number four in the world. But Thursday night it emerged that he's suffered a hip fracture while bicycling in Norway and will miss today's fourth round. The scheduled game with Caruana has been postponed (for now) until the next rest day, June 4th. Before the incident, the players took part in a "cook-off" where they were paired up and got to play the roll of professional chefs for a while. Here Ding enjoys the fruits (or rather veggies) of his labour. Behind him (L-to-R): Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian, Caruana and Karjakin | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

5/1/2018 – It was a month in which the two best players 'explained' once more to the world, why they are the best. Magnus Carlsen came storming through the second half of the Gashimov Memorial to win it, while Fabiano Caruana won the Grenke Classic, and came second in the US Championship with a plus five score. Sam Shankland enjoyed the greatest result of his career with a huge US Championship win, and a 2701 rating to boot. Here are the ratings and report for your perusal. | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

3/31/2018 – There were plenty of interesting results this last month, and the Candidates was but one of the contributing factors. There can be no discussion about calling Fabiano Caruana 'Man of the Month', but fascinating moves abound, from the rise of Iranian youth (watch out Batumi!), to Anand's ascension to world no.3 in Rapid. See all, read all, in this month's ratings report! | Photo: World Chess

3/1/2018 – FIDE just published the new ratings and the official world ranking list. Compared to March there are some slight changes among the top ten, but World Champion Magnus Carlsen is still clear number one. Number two in the world is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, followed by Vladimir Kramnik on three. Hou Yifan leads the women's list.

1/31/2018 – January was naturally dominated by the Tata Steel Chess tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, and is otherwise a quiet month when most of the world's best players are inactive. It was a great success for Anish Giri, and a huge disappointment for Fabiano Caruana and Hou Yifan. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/3/2018 – It was a great month to end the year, with exciting chess throughout. Fabiano Caruana retook the no.2 spot after his win at London, but the biggest news was really Vishy Anand's evergreen result, taking the World Rapid title at age 48, facing a player less than half his age, albeit a bit green in tournament strategy, 22-year-old Vladimir Fedoseev. Let's not forget Magnus Carlsen who took the World Blitz title, and many more results. | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

11/30/2017 – What an interesting month it was for ratings. At the top, there were a few changes and personal bests, but among the Girls and Juniors we saw significant leaps forward. Among the elite, the news was the win by Levon Aronian (again!) and Dmitri Jakovenko, but lower down among the youth, several records are getting ready to topple. Enjoy this review of the new ratings list. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

11/1/2017 – Never has the Top Ten looked so crowded with so little to separate one from the other. In fact, every single player has been world number two at least once, if only for a day. One constant has re-established itself, and that is Magnus Carlsen's domination, as he opened the gap to 36 Elo points after a win at the Isle of Man. Of note also is Egyptian GM Amin Bassem who became the first African to crack 2700. | Photo: Alina L'Ami

10/1/2017 – 2017 has been literally the Year of the Levon, with an amazing series of major wins, now culminating in the second World Cup title, guaranteeing him a place in the next Candidates tournament. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy things is a change in the balance of power, since now the Top 20 contains four Russian players... and four Chinese players, the oldest being 28. Enjoy this report on the latest lists and results. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/1/2017 – What a month it has been! Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was one of the most prominent names of the month, winning the Sinquefield Cup, and taking the no. 2 spot, and of course there was the return of Garry Kasparov, who joined the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, and with it, his first rapid and blitz rating. Then there was Indian prodigy IM Praggnanandhaa who became the youngest ever with 2500, but the one result that overshadowed them all was Hou Yifan's historic win at Biel. | Photo: Pascal Simon

8/4/2017 – It was a remarkable month for ratings, with notable results all over. A few standouts are 18-year-old Wei Yi, who is now no. 14, 14-year-old Alireza Firouzja poised to become a GM at 2518 FIDE, and 13-year-old WFM Bibisara Assaubayeva, who flew to 2421 and will get her IM title soon. If that's not enough, Magnus Carlsen has now opened an 80-Elo gap in the Blitz ratings. Still, the nod must go to Teimour Radjabov, the second youngest player ever in the Top 100, for his win at Geneva.

6/30/2017 – This month's ratings list brings a number of remarkable results, all worthy of commentary. First and foremost is Levon Aronian's deserved return to the 2800-club after great wins at the Grenke Classic, and now at Norway Chess. Also worth noting is that the group of players rated 2800 or more has grown to six, but before concluding 'ratings inflation' read the commentary in the article to see if you still think that way after.

6/1/2017 – There can be no question it was a busy month overall. Consider that no fewer than 29 of the Top 100 experienced swings of 10 Elo or more. The biggest winner was unquestionably Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who has had an amazing run, winning the Gashimov Memorial, scoring later 4/4 at the Russian League, and 2nd at the Moscow GP to finally reach 2800. Of note also was 14-year-old prodigy Awonder Liang, who earned 33 Elo and is now 2521. Report, stats, and more.

5/2/2017 – Although the top players all played, the stratospheric 2800 club all saw losses small or modest. Still it was anything but a dry month, starting with Levon Aronian's crushing win at Grenke ahead of an elite crowd such as Carlsen and Caruana, and not omitting Anish Giri's big win at the Reykjavik Open. Nevertheless, a number of players also enjoyed personal bests such as Nils Grandelius, Varuzhan Akobian, and rising female stars in Spain and Germany. Enjoy the report on the new ratings list!

4/2/2017 – Very little happened in the top-most ranks of the Elo ladder in the past month, a small interlude as the season starts with few breaks in the forthcoming weeks. However, a few results certainly stood out, such as Vladimir Fedoseev's fantastic win at the Aeroflot Open, earning him 26 Elo, or Le Quang Liem's victory in Vietnam. See the stats and enjoy the highlights in this report.

3/1/2017 – In a list with several notable results, including an important one as Wesley So moves to world no. 2 as a result of Fabiano Caruana's subpar performance at the Gibraltar Masters, the most important one is without question Ju Wenjun's leap to 2604, thus becoming the fifth female to crack 2600, following Judit Polgar, Humpey Koneru, Hou Yifan, and Anna Muzychuk. Here is the report with results of the new ratings list.

2/1/2017 – Never has the no.1 spot been so crowded as now since Magnus Carlsen took over. For a while it seemed a matter of time before he established new records and left others fighting over silver. This month he finds himself with not one, but two approaching challengers, with Wesley So making strides at the rate of over 50 Elo in just 6 months and four big wins. We see also Wei Yi in his breakthrough tournament at Wijk aan Zee, and a new prodigy in US chess. Here are the report, stats, and stories.

1/2/2017 – The Fide just published the first rating list of 2017. World Champion Magnus Carlsen starts the year as number one - in classical chess, in rapid and in blitz chess. But in classical chess Fabiano Caruana is only 13 Elo points behind. Hou Yifan continues to dominate the women's ranking list, Wei Yi is best junior, Lei Tingjie the best girl. Lists and statistics...