World Chess Rankings
Whether World Chess Rankings or World Chess Ratings (as FIDE refer to them), it all amounts to the same thing:
"A Chart That Shows Who's Currently
The Best In The World."
The page you're on at the moment isn't a 'live' or 'regularly updated' listings page. We prefer to leave accurate tracking to FIDE and so, you'll find direct links to their respective Ratings lists.
The screenshots you see, below, are captures from FIDE's Chess Ratings, shown on 20th January 2010. By the time you check FIDE's current lists, the ratings are likely to have changed.
These are the different Ratings that FIDE maintains a record for ...
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Players (Male) -
The lower-case "g" signifies the player as holding the title of Grandmaster.
Then you get the player's Country of origin; FIDE Rating (which uses the Elo Rating system); the number of Ranking Games played for the current Chess season; and the player's Birth Year.
The main World Chess Rankings focus on the men's game.
Current top player in the World, Magnus Carlsen is somewhat a phenomenon of the game, given his relatively young age compared to his peers.
Note how the highest ranked player isn't actually the World Chess Champion - that title, as of January 2010, is currently held by Viswanathan Anand, who lies 3rd in FIDE's Top Player Chess Ratings list.
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Players (Female) -
Just as with the Men's World Chess Rankings, the Women's also records their Title, Country of origin, FIDE Rating, Number of Games played in the current season, and Birth Year.
Notice how the list of Top 10 Women Chess players contains two who are classified as being "International Masters", signified by the lower-case "m".
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Junior Players (Male) -
Because of his young age, Magnus Carlsen also heads the list of the Junior category - he's miles ahead of his nearest rival, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), who appears on the same Men's top list as Carlsen, but Ranked in 18th position, as of January 2010.
All of the Top 10 Junior Male players have achieved the Title of Grandmaster.
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Junior Players (Female) -
In contrast to the Junior Male players, there is only one Junior Female player that has gained full Grandmaster status.
The other girls in the Top 10, as of January 2010, have achieved a mixture of International Master, Women's Grandmaster and Women's Master status, respectively.
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Players Progress -
The Progress Chart takes into account both Male and Female players during the past 3 month period.
To the left of the list, you can see the newly achieved Rank (where a player has risen to), together with their Old Rank, (where the player was previously ranked).
There's also a helpful color-coding to more easily pick out the player's movement through the World Chess Rankings list:
- black color - player remained on the same position
- green color - player moved up in the list
- red color - player moved down in the list
- blue color - player is new to the current Top list
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
FIDE Chess Rankings
- Top Countries (Federations) -
The last World Chess Rankings list we mention tracks the Top Chess-playing Countries.
Each of FIDE's member Federations - around the World - compiles a list of their own player members and their current status. These are then centralized onto FIDE's list, so we can all see which country is most efficient at producing top Chess talent.
For once, Magnus Carlsen doesn't get into the Top 10 - his nation, Norway, as of January 2010, sits in 27th place and, instead, it is the Russian Chess Federation which, collectively, leads the World Chess Rankings.
Top Players
Male | Female | Junior (Male) | Junior (Female)
Other Lists
Players Progress | Top Countries
| Click Here To View FIDE's World Chess Rankings Page |
<<< Back to the Chess Glossary (World Chess Rankings)
