September FIDE Ratings: The New Power Generation

The September FIDE rating list, published today on the website of the International Chess Federation, shows the rise of the new generation of chess. Especially India is doing well, with big jumps for GMs Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi, as well as GM Nihal Sarin, while GMs Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), and Vincent Keymer (Germany) also climbed on the list.

The new FIDE ratings are dominated by the results of the Chennai Olympiad participants. If we start at the top, we see how hard it actually is for GM Magnus Carlsen to gain Elo points. The world champion played nine rounds (he only skipped the first and the last round) for Norway and faced an average opposition of 2537. He scored 7.5/9 or plus six, but still lost three Elo points.

The biggest losers at the top tell the story about the disappointing result for the U.S. in Chennai. GM Levon Aronian dropped 16 points, GM Fabiano Caruana 18 points, GM Leinier Dominguez nine points, and GM Sam Shankland eight points. Only GM Wesley So played fairly close to his rating, but still lost two points.

If we look at the biggest winners among the top 100 players, we see young players exclusively. We might as well start with Erigaisi, currently in 24th position (just below Gukesh) after gaining a whopping 36 points. However, in the live ratings, the 18-year-old Indian grandmaster is already the world's number 18(!) as he added another 10 points to his collection at the Dubai Open that's currently underway.

The biggest revelation at the Olympiad was 16-year-old Gukesh, who gained 26 points (26.2 to be exact) on home soil and half a point in the Turkish league to make it 27, rounded up. 18-year-old Nihal, who we find somewhat lower on the list (in 63rd place), gained 26 points.

Three more names were mentioned in the intro paragraph. Maghsoodloo gained 20 points and entered the world's top 30, alongside Abdusattorov, who won 36 points. Keymer entered the top 50 with a 21-point gain.

Worth mentioning are two small exceptions to the general story of young players on the rise: 38-year-old GM Gabriel Sargissian, who played board one for Armenia and scored 6.5/10, good for a 2795 performance rating and 13 Elo points, and 31-year-old GM David Howell, who won gold on board three for England with 7.5/8 and a performance rating of 2898. He gained 17 points.

FIDE Standard Ratings | Sept. 1, 2022 

Data courtesy FIDE.

We see fewer changes in the women's list, especially at the top. Only three players from the women's top 10 were active in Chennai, who all dropped only a few points.

The rise of young Indian players can also be seen among the girls. 19-year-old Vantika Agrawal won 25 points and is closing in on the 2400 threshold, but the biggest jump was made by WIM Savitha Shri B., who is now 32nd in the world after gaining 61 points! She is actually from Chennai but won her points by scoring 5/9 in the Czech Open.

A K-factor of 40 helped in her case, which led to a 96-point gain in the August list, and a 48-point gain in July. It will be harder to win (or lose!) rating for Savitha because now that she has crossed 2400, her K-factor dropped to 10.

Other big gainers this month are IM Sabrina Vega of Spain (29 points), IM Irine Sukandar (28 points and her second GM norm in Abu Dhabi!), WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa (27 points), and, last but not least, GM Pia Cramling (14 points but more importantly, Olympic gold on board one in Chennai aged 59).

FIDE Standard Ratings (Women) | Sept. 1, 2022