Carlsen, Caruana Top Rating List Before World Championship

Now that FIDE has published its November rating list, it's official: the 2018 world championship match will be played between the world's top two players. That hasn't happened since 1990.

On the new ratings list, reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen is world number-one with 2835, three points more than Fabiano Caruana. The last time the world number-one and -two played for the world title was in 1990, with the fifth and last match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. (See also Mike Klein's recent article where this match was mentioned.)

Kasparov entered that match with a rating of exactly 2800, whereas Karpov was on 2730.

The Kasparov-Karpov match in 1990. | Photo via www.Kasparov.com.

In the history of the Elo ratings, which were invented by the Hungarian-American physics professor Arpad Elo and adopted by FIDE in 1970, there was never a match for the world title between players so close to each other in the rankings.

In their first match in 1984, the two Ks were very close. Kasparov was already the world number-one with 2715, compared to Karpov with 2705. In the 1985 match, Kasparov had dropped below his rival (2700 vs 2720) but took the title. In 1986 and 1987, the rating difference was 35 and 25 points respectively, both in Kasparov's favor.

The closest, however, were Karpov and his earlier opponent Viktor Korchnoi in their second match, in 1981 in Merano. Although Korchnoi had much less chance of winning than in 1978, the ratings of the two players only differed by five points: 2700 for Karpov vs 2695 for Korchnoi.

Karpov vs Korchnoi in 1981. | Photo: Wikipedia/Creative Commons.

In November 2018, the biggest change among the top grandmasters is the disappearance of Levon Aronian out of the top 10. The Armenian number-one was still in fifth place with 2780 in October, but dropped to 11th place as he lost 15 points in total at the Olympiad and the Chess.com Isle of Man International.

Back in the top 10 is Alexander Grischuk, who made a small jump from 11th to ninth place by winning just two rating points. His good friend Peter Svidler's disappointing European Club Cup hasn't gone unnoticed. He is no longer in the world's top 20 after losing 20 points in total this month.

Hikaru Nakamura couldn't bounce back from leaving the top 10 just yet, as he dropped further from 13th to 17th place after losing 17 points this period.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek, the winner in Isle of Man, returned to the top 20 by winning 22 points. He is also back to being Polish number-one, having surpassed the Speed Chess Championship semifinalist Jan-Krzysztof Duda by 11 points.

FIDE November Ratings, Top 100

The biggest change in the women's list is Humpy Koneru returning as an active player. After spending time on motherhood, she played nine games at the Olympiad, her first classical event since the summer of 2016. With a rating of 2548, she is in fifth place below Hou Yifan (now studying at Oxford), Ju Wenjun, Anna Muzychuk and Kateryna Lagno (occupied with motherhood).

Like her husband Wojtaszek, Alina Kashlinskaya entered the world's top 20. Not only did she win the top women's prize, but she also scored a GM norm in Isle of Man.

FIDE November Women Ratings, Top 100

The blitz ratings didn't see much change, but there was one remarkable jump in the rapid ratings: Vladislav Artemiev. His win at the Russian Rapid Championship in early October made him jump to world number-four, behind Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez.

FIDE November Rapid Ratings, Top 100

All data courtesy of FIDE.

Chess.com Blitz and Bullet

Let's check out the current blitz and bullet ratings on Chess.com.

Usually this part starts by the statement that Nakamura tops both lists, but this time that's not the case. At this point, his compatriot Daniel Naroditsky tops the blitz rankings with a stellar 3077 rating, 38 points more than Nakamura.

In third place we find Levon Aronian as the only other player with a 3000+ blitz rating on our site. He crossed that mark during his Speed Chess match with Anish Giri in September. Interestingly, Aronian will be playing the semifinal against Nakamura on December 1.

Another semifinalist is Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who is in fourth place here, three places ahead of his opponent on November 30, Wesley So.

Things are incredibly close in our bullet list, where Nakamura is actually in third place. However, these standings change by the day, and are not saying that much. It's just that these rating reports tend to be published on the first day of the month.

In any case, the leader right now is Alireza Firouzja, one of many super-talented young grandmasters from Iran and a total beast when it comes to one-minute chess! His rating 3103 is just one point more than Vladimir Fedoseev's, who is just two points ahead of Nakamura.

Speaking of talented players, we find the 16-year-old IM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia in seventh place, among lots of very strong grandmasters. And what about "FM 1random," a player who is hiding his name and nationality on our site, but is rocking it in bullet without having the IM title?