Universal Rating System - URS

GM Vladislav Artemiev and GM Alireza Firouzja both impressed at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Moscow and both have ended the year at or near their career high ratings. Artemiev ends the year at #10 while Firouzja has risen to #26 after securing the silver medal in the World Rapid behind world champion Magnus Carlsen.

GM Levon Aronian and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi also ended the year inside the top 10 with Ian benefiting from his victory at the final FIDE GP event in Israel.Russian GM Alexander Grischuk has also reached a career high of #7 and has virtually secured himself an invitation to the 2020 Grand Chess Tour as a result.

The year end ratings are now published and can be accessed at http://universalrating.com/ratings.php

September was a relatively quiet month as the vast majority of the world elite were participating in the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. Since these results will only be taken into account next month most of the top players have largely maintained their current positions on the October rating list. The notable exception are the 8 participants of the Chess9LX tournament in St Louis who played 14 rateable games each at various time controls. These have been included in their URS™ rating calculations in line with the decision in 2018 to rate Chess960 results provided that these are played over the board and not online.

The player to benefit the most was GM Peter Svidler who returns to the top 20 after recording a comfortable match win against GM Leinier Dominguez. GM Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So also recorded small rating gains from their respective victories against GM’s Aronian, Topalov and Kasparov.

On the women’s side, most of the top players were in action at the 1st FIDE Women's Grand Prix event in Skolkovo, Russia. GM Humpy Koneru won this event in impressive style and the result has seen her world ranking rise from #707 to #530 as a result. Humpy is now ranked 6th in the world on the October URS™ Woman’s rating list and will no doubt be eyeing a place in the Women’s candidates tournament after a long period of relative inactivity.

The final 3 months of the year are extremely busy for most
players and the results in this period are likely to be crucial for those hoping to qualify as full tour participants for the 2020 Grand Chess Tour.

The October URS™ ratings are now published and can be accessed at http://universalrating.com/ratings.php

GM Quang Liem Le was the stand-out performer in an otherwise relatively quiet June month and has improved his URS™ ranking to number 26 on the back of his dual victories in the 2019 Asian Continental Open in China and the 2019 Summer Cup in St Louis, USA. GM Vladislav Artemiev also continued his steady progress and has finally broken into the top 10 for the first time after sharing first place with GM Dmitry Jakovenko in the Anatoly Karpov International Tournament held in Poykovskiy in Russia.

The other major event held in the month of June was the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger but this event had limited impact on the ratings of the participants as most performed largely in line with expectations. GM Magnus Carlsen won the tournament on the strength of his excellent Armageddon results while GM Wesley So was the one player to make progress following this event. Wesley recorded an undefeated 5/9 in his classical games in Norway and this has seen him rise back to #6 on the latest list.

The July URS™ ratings are now published and can be accessed as usual at http://universalrating.com/ratings.php