In the July FIDE ratings, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is the new #4 player in the world. That's the highest place he has achieved so far. Meanwhile, the blitz ratings have a surprising new #1.

Now that a lots of top events are behind us, and the first half of 2016 is history, let's review the new ratings! And let's start, for a change, with blitz.

Do you know who is the world's top-rated player for blitz? If you guessed Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru Nakamura, you're wrong. It's... Ding Liren of China! How did that happen?

Well, Ding didn't need to play any chess to claim the top spot. The number of blitz games he played in the last month is zero. Instead, the previous leader, Magnus Carlsen, lost ground. The Norwegian star had been sitting on a gigantic 2915 rating for a while, but he couldn't maintain it during the Grand Chess Tour events in Paris and Leuven.

Over a total of 36 blitz games, Carlsen, who finished second in Paris and first in Leuven, lost 42 points. He is now at 2873, two points behind the Chinese grandmaster. Hikaru Nakamura also lost points. He went from 2883 to 2842.

Ding Liren, the new number one in FIDE's blitz ratings!

July 2016 FIDE Ratings | Blitz, Top 20

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Ding Liren g CHN 2875 0 1992 2 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2873 36 1990 3 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2842 36 1987 4 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2840 22 1990 5 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2826 36 1982 6 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2823 36 1990 7 Shkuro, Iuri g UKR 2814 0 1982 8 Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2800 36 1992 9 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2800 22 1990 10 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2800 0 1987 11 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2795 22 1976 12 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2793 0 1987 13 So, Wesley g USA 2791 36 1993 14 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 18 1969 15 Bortnyk, Olexandr g UKR 2784 9 1996 16 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2783 0 1983 17 Artemiev, Vladislav g RUS 2781 22 1998 18 Mamedov, Rauf g AZE 2770 22 1988 19 Wang Hao g CHN 2768 22 1989 20 Adams, Michael g ENG 2768 0 1971

(Courtesy of FIDE; full list here.)

A surprising name on this list is Iuri Shkuro of Ukraine, currently on #7. His name has been in the blitz top 10 for a while; he went from 2525 in November 2014 to 2765 in June 2015. He won dozens of points in each list and eventually raised his rating to 2814. With a classical rating of 2566, that's quite impressive. How is this possible?

As it turns out, the events where Mr. Shkuro won his points have a lot of similarities. They were all held in Ukraine, and each time he played against (much) lower rated opponents. He gained points by getting a huge score, while possessing a K factor of 20.

Another Ukrainian grandmaster, Yuri Vovk, complained about this situation on Facebook in February of this year. Among the people discussing are GM Emil Sutovsky and our own IM Danny Rensch.

Let's turn our attention to the classical ratings. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has reached a career high position. The Frenchman is now the world #4 after winning nine points at the French Team Championship. MVL switched places with Levon Aronian who, by the way, jumped from #12 to #5 in the blitz ratings.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's win in Shamkir was calculated for this list along with some games in the Chinese league. The Azerbaijani won 18 points and moved up from #18 to #12. It was also a good month for Richard Rapport who climbed from #25 to #17 and married Serbian WGM Jovana Vojinovic.

July 2016 FIDE Ratings | Classical, Top 50

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2855 0 1990 2 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2812 0 1975 3 Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2810 9 1992 4 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2798 10 1990 5 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2792 0 1982 6 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2787 0 1987 7 Giri, Anish g NED 2785 9 1994 8 Ding Liren g CHN 2778 3 1992 9 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2773 9 1990 10 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2770 0 1969 11 So, Wesley g USA 2770 0 1993 12 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2764 12 1985 13 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2761 0 1975 14 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2759 0 1976 15 Li Chao g CHN 2758 0 1989 16 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2755 9 1986 17 Rapport, Richard g HUN 2752 13 1996 18 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2747 0 1983 19 Navara, David g CZE 2745 19 1985 20 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2737 9 1983 21 Yu Yangyi g CHN 2734 17 1994 22 Wang, Hao g CHN 2734 3 1989 23 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2734 0 1968 24 Andreikin, Dmitry g RUS 2733 5 1990 25 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2733 3 1987 26 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2731 0 1987 27 Wang Yue g CHN 2730 8 1987 28 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2730 3 1985 29 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2728 10 1969 30 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2728 0 1987 31 Adams, Michael g ENG 2727 0 1971 32 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2725 5 1990 33 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2723 9 1991 34 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2723 3 1985 35 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2722 9 1987 36 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2713 10 1983 37 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2713 2 1982 38 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2712 5 1983 39 Leko, Peter g HUN 2712 0 1979 40 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2706 0 1983 41 Granda Zuniga, Julio E g PER 2699 0 1967 42 Rodshtein, Maxim g ISR 2698 20 1989 43 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2697 3 1980 44 Wei Yi g CHN 2696 11 1999 45 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2696 9 1979 46 Kryvoruchko, Yuriy g UKR 2691 12 1986 47 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2690 10 1983 48 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2689 0 1974 49 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2688 10 1986 50 Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2687 0 1977

(Courtesy of FIDE; full list here.)

Better late than never. #top100 — Alexander Ipatov ( @Ipatov_Chess ) July 1, 2016 After my Elexit ("Elo exit") from the top 100 earlier this year, I am having 2nd thoughts. Now just two points away from re-entering. — Nigel Short ( @nigelshortchess ) July 1, 2016

The rapid rating list hardly saw any changes except for #1 Carlsen increasing his lead over #2 Nakamura by a bit, so we're moving on to the classical ratings list for women. There, we have a new #2.

Ju Wenjun of China played 12 rated games for this list. At the Chicago Open, she won 14.1 points, and in the Chinese league she won 5.2 points. She is now three points ahead of India's Humpy Koneru. The last time Koneru was not second behind Hou, or third behind Polgar/Hou, was in November 2014. Ju was also ahead of Koneru then.

Ju Wenjun, the new number-two female chess player | Photo courtesy of FIDE.

July 2016 FIDE Women Ratings | Classical, Top 50

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Hou Yifan g CHN 2653 9 1994 2 Ju Wenjun g CHN 2578 12 1991 3 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2575 0 1987 4 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2549 9 1984 5 Muzychuk, Anna g UKR 2545 9 1990 6 Muzychuk, Mariya g UKR 2545 9 1992 7 Cmilyte, Viktorija g LTU 2536 0 1983 8 Lagno, Kateryna g RUS 2530 5 1989 9 Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2529 3 1987 10 Harika, Dronavalli g IND 2526 9 1991 11 Gunina, Valentina g RUS 2520 5 1989 12 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2512 11 1979 13 Zhao Xue g CHN 2510 12 1985 14 Paehtz, Elisabeth m GER 2498 24 1985 15 Tan Zhongyi wg CHN 2495 8 1991 16 Sebag, Marie g FRA 2488 4 1986 17 Javakhishvili, Lela m GEO 2487 14 1984 18 Pogonina, Natalija wg RUS 2484 16 1985 19 Kosintseva, Nadezhda g RUS 2483 0 1985 20 Goryachkina, Aleksandra wg RUS 2482 16 1998 21 Lei Tingjie wg CHN 2482 8 1997 22 Shen, Yang m CHN 2477 7 1989 23 Zhukova, Natalia g UKR 2475 0 1979 24 Hoang, Thanh Trang g HUN 2467 0 1980 25 Kashlinskaya, Alina m RUS 2467 0 1993 26 Batsiashvili, Nino m GEO 2466 11 1987 27 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina m RUS 2466 0 1974 28 Bodnaruk, Anastasia m RUS 2465 16 1992 29 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2463 9 1963 30 Socko, Monika g POL 2462 14 1978 31 Ushenina, Anna g UKR 2458 11 1985 32 Khotenashvili, Bela g GEO 2454 3 1988 33 Skripchenko, Almira m FRA 2452 10 1976 34 Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2450 0 1972 35 Huang Qian wg CHN 2450 0 1986 36 Zatonskih, Anna m USA 2449 0 1978 37 Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat m IRI 2445 9 1997 38 Girya, Olga wg RUS 2444 11 1991 39 Danielian, Elina g ARM 2444 0 1978 40 Krush, Irina g USA 2443 0 1983 41 Nomin-Erdene, Davaademberel m MGL 2442 28 2000 42 Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2442 11 1982 43 Zawadzka, Jolanta wg POL 2440 14 1987 44 Hunt, Harriet V m ENG 2440 0 1978 45 Cori T., Deysi wg PER 2435 0 1993 46 Munguntuul, Batkhuyag m MGL 2428 9 1987 47 Atalik, Ekaterina m TUR 2426 11 1982 48 Saduakassova, Dinara wg KAZ 2421 9 1996 49 Ding Yixin wg CHN 2421 8 1991 50 Sukandar, Irine Kharisma m INA 2419 14 1992

(Courtesy of FIDE; full list here.)

Chess.com Blitz and Bullet

Finally, let's look at how things are on our own site. Last time we discussed, GM Hikaru (Hikaru Nakamura) had dropped back a bit. After breaking the 2900 barrier, he went to 2875 back in April. This month he's back with a vengeance! The U.S. grandmaster reached a beautiful new blitz rating of 3000, and is 120 points ahead of a new name on our site.

We're talking about a certain GM MagnusCarlsen, who entered our lists due to his participation in the Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. After his 14 blitz games with GM TigranLPetrosyan, he is now at 2880.

There's also a new name ahead of our #4, GM LyonBeast (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave). The new #3 is GM chesspanda123, who did not disclose his name but is a member of the Olympic-gold-winning Chinese team!

There are two untitled players in the top 20, but the GM title still needs to be verified for vartemiev who is almost certainly Vladislav Artemiev. Member slavenov is either a real blitz expert or a top GM who didn't bother to send us his credentials!

Chess.com Live Chess | Blitz, 1 July 2016 (Top 20) # Title Username Rating 1/0/= 1 GM Hikaru 3000 2440/240/182 2 GM MagnusCarlsen 2880 10/2/2 3 GM chesspanda123 2766 327/142/46 4 GM LyonBeast 2759 185/52/38 5 GM tomcruise999 2747 110/36/7 6 GM Tamirn 2726 3147/578/209 7 slavenov 2725 130/12/5 8 GM LiemLe 2716 164/58/32 9 GM 2Vladimirovich90 2716 188/39/32 10 wildoo 2708 174/15/3 11 GM EltajSafarli 2708 40/17/13 12 GM howitzer14 2704 624/228/98 13 GM Genghis_K 2693 235/240/64 14 GM GeorgMeier 2693 589/299/161 15 vartiemiev 2693 367/174/34 16 GM Chopper1905 2691 194/81/16 17 GM Infernal_XaM 2690 86/4/3 18 GM Tesla37 2688 128/32/13 19 GM Anton_Demchenko 2688 352/219/52 20 GM platy3 2687 207/144/44

Carlsen's eight wins the bullet part of his match with Petrosian got him to the number one spot on our site. His rating of 3275 is extremely provisional, of course, but it was enough to have Nakamura salivating at the thought of a worthy foe with a nice supply of rating points!

Nakamura is busy getting closer and has broken 3200 as well. The distance between Nakamura and the #3, GM ArabicFalcon, is a staggering 245 points. Bullet specialist IM wonderfultime (Minh Le) has dropped back to ninth place and isn't even the highest rated non-GM anymore. That's IM vellottiwizzard (Luke Vellotti).