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FIDE Ratings Update — August 2016

The FIDE Ratings update for the month of August 2016 is out.

There are a lot of changes in the top 10, including MVL‘s jump from number 4 to number 2 after a 21 ELO rating points boost from 2798 to 2819. Let’s find out if he can keep his momentum in the upcoming Sinquefield Cup.

Ding Liren lost 23 ELO points after his loss in his mini match against Alexander Grischuk, among others, and thus slid down from number 8 to number 13.

Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin lost ground as well after their dismal performances in Bilbao, and thus enabling Wesley So to gain control of the 7th spot.

You’ll find below the top 20 list:

FIDE Ratings Top 20 - August 2016

RkNameTi.FedRtgGmsB-Year
1Carlsen, MagnusgNOR2857101990
2Vachier-Lagrave, MaximegFRA2819111990
3Kramnik, VladimirgRUS280871975
4Caruana, FabianogUSA280771992
5Aronian, LevongARM279201982
6Nakamura, HikarugUSA2791101987
7So, WesleygUSA2771101993
8Anand, ViswanathangIND277001969
9Giri, AnishgNED2769101994
10Karjakin, SergeygRUS2769101990
11Mamedyarov, ShakhriyargAZE276401985
12Topalov, VeselingBUL276101975
13Ding, LirengCHN2755161992
14Grischuk, AlexandergRUS275441983
15Li, Chao bgCHN275391989
16Harikrishna, P.gIND2752131986
17Rapport, RichardgHUN275201996
18Svidler, PetergRUS275141976
19Gelfand, BorisgISR274361968
20Navara, DavidgCZE274271985
Check out the Top 100 List.

Alexander Grischuk Beats Ding Liren in a Mini Match

ding-liren-alexander-grischuk

From 19th to 22nd July the Chinese number one Ding Liren, with a rating of 2778 currently number eight in the world, and Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, with a rating of 2747 currently number 18 in the world, played a four-game match in Wenzhou, China. Grischuk won the first game from a worse position and Ding Liren did not manage to equalise the score in the following three games. Grischuk won the match 2.5-1.5.

— ChessBase

It seems like mini-matches are a thing right now. In May, Ding Liren played Wesley So in a 4-game mini-match as well. Then, more recently, there was the Biel Chess Festival 2016 and Gelfand vs Inarkiev Match 2016.

See the Grischuk vs. Liren match games below: [replay]

Knockout (Matches) vs. Round Robin

Former challenger to the world chess crown, Boris Gelfand, when asked if anyone can beat Magnus Carlsen in the near future:

In matches, in general, anyone could. Carlsen is, of course, the clear favourite, but many would have a chance. As for tournaments – he wins the majority of them. Nevertheless, there are still contenders for his crown. I’m cautious in my predictions.

Perhaps, a majority of top grandmasters would agree that holding a tournament in a knockout (matches) format would yield a totally different result than when usually held in round-robin (or Swiss-system) format. That’s because different players perform differently between the two formats. Sometimes, a certain player acts as an Achilles heel against a particular opponent, but performs poorly when slated with the rest of the participants.

Thus, I think it would be interesting to follow tournaments that incorporate both formats. Maybe a round robin in the early stages that ultimately culminates in four-way knockout matches? Don’t you think?

May 2016 FIDE Ratings List

The updated ratings for May 2016 are out. Here’s the the top 20:

FIDE-May-2016-Top-20

See how 80% of the Top 10 are 90’s babies, i.e., they were born in the 1990’s. It speaks volumes about the quality of computer support these kids got especially when they were starting out.

Anyway, Wesley So retains his hold onto the 10th place, ahead of two former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov.

The World Championship we are about to witness in November is between the No. 1 player Magnus Carlsen and No. 8 Sergey Karjakin. Looks like a heavily lopsided match to me, I dare say.

Check out the top 100 players here.