FIDE October Ratings: Caruana's Rise, Topalov Back to 2800, Giri 7th

Magnus Carlsen tops the October 2014 FIDE ratings with 2863 but Fabiano Caruana, who won 43 points in St. Louis and Bilbao, climbed to 2844, only 19 points behind the world champion.

Veselin Topalov jumped to third place; the Bulgarian has a 2800-rating for the first time in four years. Anish Giri is the new #7.

A number of top events have finished recently, and so it's interesting to have a look at the new, official FIDE ratings. The October 2014 list has been published and we see quite a few changes at the top. (Strangely, the Bilbao Masters Final hasn't been calculated yet. Update: it was received by FIDE on the day the list came out...)

The big news is of course about Fabiano Caruana, who gained no less than 43 points in a month's time!

It was mostly his spectacular performance at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, where he started with a historic streak of seven victories, and finished with three draws. But right after, he also played well at the European Club Cup in Bilbao. Because Magnus Carlsen dropped 7 points, the difference between the two is suddenly only 19 points — 50 points fewer than last month!

There are two other big winners in the top 10: Veselin Topalov, who jumped to the #3 spot, and Anish Giri, who is now #7. Like Caruana, Topalov gained his points in St. Louis and Bilbao, and ended at exactly 2800. The last time he was a member of this special club was in the last three months of 2010.

Giri gained “only” 10 points in the Spanish League and the European Club Cup, but the differences are small among the players close to him.

Levon Aronian hasn't been showing his best form lately and now, for the first time since March 2013, he is not the world's number two player anymore. He dropped to #5 and out of the 2800-club, with a 2793 rating. Vladimir Kramnik is not in the top 10 of the world anymore (but it's hard to believe that he won't be back).

The biggest loss was for Olympic gold winner Ding Liren, who dropped no less than 24 points after playing badly in the Turkish and Chinese league.

October 2014 FIDE ratings, Top 25

It depends on whether Hou Yifan will play in the coming month, but it's possible that the October 2014 women's rating list will be the last one where Judit Polgar is the number one. Thanks to another successful Grand Prix, Hou is just two points behind the legendary Hungarian lady. The biggest winner, however, is Ju Wenjun, who went up 21 points.

October 2014 FIDE women's ratings, Top 25

The complete lists, including the Juniors' and Girls' lists, can be found here. All data courtesy of FIDE.