2800+ Ratings For Anand, Topalov, Nakamura On July List

Besides Magnus Carlsen, three players are rated above 2800 in the FIDE July 1 rating list: Hikaru Nakamura (in fourth place at 2814), Veselin Topalov (third with 2816) and Vishy Anand (second, also with 2816).

The July rating list published by FIDE is especially interesting as it reflects the results of the Norway Chess tournament held last month in Stavanger. So, what does the new pecking order look like?

As we know, Magnus Carlsen played probably the worst tournament in his professional career so far. The world champion went down from 2876 to 2853, losing a whopping 23 points. He still holds a rating better than anyone has ever had; Garry Kasparov's highest published rating was 2851, in January 2000.

Three more players are rated above 2800, and two of them are of the generation between that of Carlsen and Kasparov: Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov.

Yes, great result for "old guys" Topalov & Anand at Norway Chess. Or as I used to call them, "the young guys"!

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 28, 2015

Anand gained 12 points while Topalov, who emerged as the tournament winner in Norway, went up 18 points. The Bulgarian player significantly improved his chances to qualify for the 2016 Candidates’ Tournament, even though he has stated that he is not sure he wants to play.

The other player above the magical 2800 threshold is Hikaru Nakamura. The American crossed the mark last month, and after yet another solid and strong performance he added 12 points, to reach 2814.

Fabiano Caruana, the world's number two for so many months, was finally overtaken. USA's latest recruit lost eight points, dropped below 2800 and is now the world number five. He is followed by Dutch GM Anish Giri, who dropped to number 10 last month but is firmly at number six now after gaining 18 Elo points!

Alexander Grischuk and Levon Aronian both dropped two places after losing points in Norway; 10 and 15 respectively.

Big winners this month include Yu Yangyi (up from number 35 to 20 after gaining 21 points) and Igor Kovalenko (up from number 85 to 60 after gaining 25 points). Big losers are David Navara (down from number 14 to 28 after losing 27 points) and Arkadij Naiditsch (down from number 29 to 54 after losing 32 points). 

July 2015 FIDE Rating List | Top 30

(Data courtesy of FIDE; top 100 here.)

There were few changes at the top of the women's list. The next month will be more interesting as GM Hou Yifan currently plays in Dortmund.

The top four have no rated games in the July list. Ju Wenjun beat three lower-rated players in the Chinese league, won five points and jumped from number seven to number five — the only change in the top 10.

Marie Sebag and Almira Skripchenko did well in the French league and gained 13 and 14 points respectively. Relatively big losers were Irine Kharisma Sukandar (-16 points) and Zhansaya Abdumalik (-22 points).

July 2015 FIDE Rating List (Women) | Top 30

(Data courtesy of FIDE; top 100 here.)

Normally the rapid and blitz lists aren't included in our rating reports because there's simply not much happening there. The top players don't play a lot of these events, and many quickly tournaments aren't rated (yet).

However, this month it's a good moment to have a look at the blitz ratings, because the opening blitz tournament at the Norway Chess tournament was rated.

You might remember that it was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; the French grandmaster has now climbed to number three in the world rankings.

July 2015 FIDE Blitz ratings | Top 20

 (Data courtesy of FIDE; top 100 here.)

Chess.com Blitz and Bullet

The top six in our own blitz list hasn't changed. GM Hikaru (Hikaru Nakamura) still tops the leaderboard, despite losing 16 points this month — previously he was at 2828. His lead over runner-up GM LexySexy (Baadur Jobava) is now 54 points.

GM GeorgMeier, currently active over the board in Dortmund, lost nine points but remains third, ahead of GM 2vladimirovich90 (Dmitry Andreikin) and GM LyonBeast (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave).

IM megarompa (Lucas A. Liascovich), who could be found on number seven in last month's list, has disappeared from this month's top 20, making space for GM Eltaj Safarli in that spot. 

Chess.com Live Chess | Blitz, June 2, 2015 (Top 20)

Nakamura has said more than once that he considers bullet to be his real speciality. He has now played 1852 games on our server (under his GM Hikaru account, that is), and 59 in the past month. The rating change? One point up!

The new number two on the list, GM LyonBeast (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave), played 32 games to reach 2852 — still 249 points to go to challenge the ultimate king of the hill.

FM wonderfultime (Minh Le) was the surprising number three in early June, but he couldn't keep it up. Losing 69 points, he dropped to 11th place.

Update: blitzmeister95 has been removed from the table below since his account was removed for violating our site rules.

Chess.com Live Chess | Bullet, July 2, 2015 (Top 20)