Yes I I've noticed that in blitz as well , when I watch chess streamers they ALL jumped 100-200 points upwards, some are CM other's IM and GM's as well . Also Hikaru now making 3400+ casually lol never seen before
5-6 years ago only Super GMs were 3000+ rating ! It was such a crazy rating, now days Super GM's 3100+ at least more like 3200+
Yeah I don't like this change to be honest it's like numbers are good but you are still weak lmao
When a population grows naturally you have more players who reach these strong elos. Doesn't mean the rating itself has gotten worse. Also looking out outliers who are at the top are also a bad way to judge the total population as there can be a lot of variance (even if you look at multiple accounts) Also that change hasn't happened in the last few months, top 10k has been the same for a while (i should know this as ive been at this or higher for quite a while now)
So there was news last year from FIDE that they changed something about the rating and that almost everyone around 2000 rating got some kind of a boost:
https://www.fide.com/new-fide-rating-and-title-regulations-come-into-effect/
Then there is also Glicko Rating system - when you dont play for example Rapid Games for longer time, you might get more points with your "first few games".
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/elo-calculation-after-a-period-of-inactivity
Not sure if this helps your question though
Haha you know ratings are working more or less as intended when one forum I replied on is talking about rating deflation and this one about rating inflation
And just now, I turned #9960 out of a 2240 Rapid rating (compare to my first post that is only two weeks old...).
At that rate, it will take about a year so you will need a 2300+ rating in order to be "Top 10k".
Then... ?
Then... ?
Celebration?
Months ago, a rating (Rapid) at about 2160 was enough to be counted among the 10.000 strongest (active) chess players on chess.com.
That is, among something of the 50-60 million players.
But now, as I scored again some 2238, I'm barely within the Top 10k (#9921 it says).
So, what's happening? What changed? Is it the dreaded rating inflation or something else?
(for those who will ask what's the problem, well, no real problem per se, but with the same rating, you're now weaker a player... It's a bad feel)