The International Federation uses the Elo system to calculate the success of its sportsmen. Top chess player rankings provide monthly information about the top 100 grandmasters. There are separate categories for men and women, as well as by age.
Rating changes
Official data is updated once at the beginning of the month. Used by various thematic sites to display live points. They calculate after each game is played. This is done by professionals, so mistakes are extremely rare. Unofficial rankings became especially popular when five players took first place. This incident occurred in 2008 following the results of one of the game days.
Anyone can maintain their own spreadsheet. The FIDE website has a calculator that is available to every visitor.
Top chess player rankings in recent years
Magnus Carlsen took first place in 2013. He defeated grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in that duel. The Norwegian has been the leader in the ranking for 9 years. During this time, there were four attempts to take away the crown but none of them succeeded.
The champion sometimes talks about retirement because he lost interest and secured leadership. Only one contender remained in his plans.
Perhaps the next confrontation will be between chess players from China and Russia. Then the championship could go to Liren Ding or Ian Nepomniachtchi. Strong masters who don’t have a big gap in points. However, don’t forget about Alireza Firusia from France. The leader of the juniors, who breathes in the back of the top three.
What if a woman becomes number one? Yifan Hou achieved high results, but in the overall standings, she was too far away. “The Queen’s Gambit” is too unlikely.
What changes should be expected?
The usual shifts in the leaderboard happen all the time. There is nothing shocking about the natural change of place. Abrupt changes in top chess player rankings may be related to the new calculation formula. The need for a sportsman to end his career may have an effect. Although there are no special age restrictions.