2/1/2024 – It is 1 February and FIDE has published their new World Ranking List. There have been some changes in the rankings, mainly due to the results of the tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, but Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura continue to lead the world rankings despite not having played a FIDE rated game in January. Ju Wenjun has moved back into second place behind Hou Yifan in the women's rankings.

5/1/2023 – The following survey lists all chess players who have reached a top five or top ten status at least once in their career, ranked by their highest position, then in chronological order. Of course, the start of the FIDE Elo list and the current date are arbitrary, but the chess world has now had an established rating and ranking publication for more than fifty consecutive years. How many different TOP FIVE players would you expect? Well, there are only 55 luminaries in the last 55 years or so! Check it out. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

10/4/2022 – At the beginning of October the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2856 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the list though he lost 5 points in the Sinquefield Cup. Currently, Carlsen is 44 ratings points away from 2900 but also 45 rating points ahead of Ding Liren, who has a rating of 2811 and is the world's number two. Hou Yifan continues to lead the women's ranking list, five juniors have a rating of 2700 or more, and Zhu Jiner from China is number one on the list of female juniors.

9/1/2022 – The Chess Olympiad has brought movement into the world rankings. The top junior players in particular gained a lot of rating points while a number of established top players lost rating points. Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one by a large margin.

8/5/2022 – At the beginning of August, FIDE published the new world ranking list. With a rating of 2864, Magnus Carlsen remains the undisputed number 1 in the world. Ding Liren follows in second place with 2808, 56 points behind, Ian Nepomniachtchi is in third place with 2792. Numeber one on the women's list is Hou Yifan (2650), who is more than 70 points ahead of Aleksandra Goryachkina (2579). Best junior is Alireza Firouza, best female junior Zhu Jiner.

7/4/2022 – On 1 July the FIDE published the new world ranking list. Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan continue to lead the "Top 100" and "Top 100 Women" by a large margin. Alireza Firouzja, who turned 19 at the beginning of the Candidates, is still the best junior, while Zhu Jiner from China continues to lead the "Girls'" list.

3/2/2022 – FIDE published its new World Ranking List. World Champion Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one but did not make any significant progress towards the 2900 mark - Carlsen gained points by winning in Wijk but lost these points again in one game in the Norwegian league. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk, Arjun Erigaisi, is now among the top 100, and Hikaru Nakamura is back in the top 20.

1/3/2022 – At the beginning of the new year FIDE published its new World Ranking List. Magnus Carlsen gained nine rating points in the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, and with a rating of 2865 he is now 35 points away from 2900 but 61 points ahead of Alireza Firouzja, the youngest world's number two of all time, who also leads the junior's list. Hou Yifan (2658) is the women's world number one, followed by Aleksandra Goryachkina with 2610. Zhu Jiner (2478) from China leads the "Girls" list.

12/1/2021 – With Alireza Firouzja, the chess world now has a new number two behind Magnus Carlsen. On the new World Ranking from December 2021, which the FIDE just published, the 18-year-old, who was born in Iran but is living in France, is ahead of Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana.

6/2/2021 – There are hardly any changes at the top of the new FIDE World Ranking List as the first 22 players on the list have not played any FIDE-rated games in May and with a rating of 2847 Magnus Carlsen is still clear number one, followed by Fabiano Caruana with 2820. However, in the women's list Aleksandra Goryachkina gained some points and is now on 2596, only four points away from the 2600 mark though Hou Yifan (2658) is still clear number one on the women's list. Alireza Firouzja (2759) remains best junior, and Polina Shuvalova (2489) remains best female junior player.

3/2/2021 – So far, the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee was the only over-the-board top tournament this year. It was played in the second half of January, but its results did not affect the rating list of February 2021. But Wijk changed the rating list from March 2021: Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lost points, other players gained rating.