Nepomniachtchi World Number 4 In April FIDE Ratings

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi is the new number four in the world rankings. The Russian grandmaster reached a career-high rating in the April FIDE rating list, published by the International Chess Federation on Wednesday. 

The top of the new rating list, which won't see any changes in the coming months due to the coronavirus crisis, reflects the first seven rounds of the Candidates Tournament. As one of the current leaders of the tournament, with a plus-two score, Nepomniachtchi gained 10 Elo points to reach his highest rating so far: 2784.

Pre-tournament favorite GM Ding Liren is on the wrong side of the leaderboard at the halfway point. He lost 14 points and dropped to a new rating of 2791. He fell below 2800 for the first time since August 2018.

The previous number four, GM Alexander Grischuk, saw no change to his rating of 2777 after playing seven draws in Yekaterinburg. He is now in sixth place as GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, also on plus two in the Candidates, gained 11 points to reach 2778.

GM Anish Giri, who gained one point in Yekaterinburg, is back into the top 10. He now has the same rating as GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but is placed higher because he actually played chess while the Azerbaijani didn't.

By the way, the world number one played one game as well in March, in the Norwegian league.

FIDE Standard Ratings, April 2020 (Top 20)

The top 20 among the women saw more changes, and all of those were based on the FIDE Grand Prix in Lausanne which ran from March 2-13. The biggest winner in terms of Elo was the winner of the tournament itself, GM Nana Dzagnidze. With an Elo gain of 15 points, she re-entered the world's top 10.

The biggest change, however, was the staggering 23-point loss for GM Ju Wenjun. That's what one tournament can do, even with a K-factor of just 10. The Women's World Champion scored 4.5/11 in Lausanne, and is now in fourth place in the rankings.

The new number three is GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, who gained thee points herself in that tournament. She also won three games, one of them against Ju.

IM Zhansaya Abdumalik played an excellent tournament which got her into the world's top 20. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, however, lost 11 points and now finds herself in the 20th place, her worst since October 2013.

FIDE Standard Ratings (Women), April 2020 (Top 20)

All data courtesy FIDE.

Chess.com Blitz and Bullet

We can also have a look at the current blitz and bullet ratings on Chess.com. As usual, GM Hikaru Nakamura tops both lists.

While the top 10 includes almost only fairly well-known games, a new one has entered as well: GM Arjun Erigaisi, a 16-year-old Indian grandmaster from Telangana, India. As his rating is based on just 32 blitz games so far, it remains to be seen if he can keep it up.

Chess.com Blitz ratings per 1 April 2020

(See the full and most up-to-date list here.)

Also in the bullet list, one name really stands out this time. CM Elie Milikow, a 13-year-old player from Israel, has played over 31,000(!) bullet games on our site since he joined in April 2013 (wait, he was six years old back then!?) and is now the number-six bullet player. Impressive!

Elie Milikow. Remember this name. The last time I was so blown away by such raw talent was when I was kibitzing on a Prag game a few years ago. Very very special.

— Lawrence Trent (@LawrenceTrentIM) December 19, 2019