The December FIDE rating list officially confirmed the meteoric rise of GM Alireza Firouzja, who is the new world number two player, 52 points behind GM Magnus Carlsen. GM Levon Aronian now represents the U.S. while GM Hikaru Nakamura got removed from the list due to inactivity.

In times of pandemic, the monthly FIDE rating lists haven’t been showing too many changes but for the December 1 list, things are different. For starters, there’s the official world number-two status of Firouzja, which was suddenly in slight doubt last week when GM Ding Liren played a four-game, friendly match with GM Lu Shanglei in China. Because Ding “only” scored 3-1 there, he failed to take back this second spot.

Firouzja is the only other player having a 2800 rating besides Carlsen. He broke 2800 about half a year quicker than the Norwegian GM did. These two players are the only ones who managed to achieve this feat before turning 19.

With the December 2021 FIDE ratings list published, here is the updated list of all players to ever have a published rating of 2800+ sorted by the age at which they first achieved that milestone. pic.twitter.com/7fk6uSxF2o

— Chess by the Numbers (@ChessNumbers) December 1, 2021

The new list has Aronian marked as an American player for the first time. He made his decision to stop representing his native country Armenia in February of this year. In a statement on Facebook, Aronian confirmed that tensions with the new government, which has been in power since May 2018, led to his decision.

“After more than a year of waiting for the fulfillment of the promises made by the current government, I realized that I had to make a breakthrough decision and leave my native country. Obviously, every year of expectation of change is a wasted year for my sports career.”

Nine months later the process has been almost finalized. Aronian is already living in St. Louis, home of the Saint Louis Chess Club and also the city where GM Fabiano Caruana lives.

With Aronian as the latest addition, team USA will be the favorite to win the 2022 Olympiad in Moscow, having four(!) players in the world’s top 15. Aronian currently has the same rating (2772) as GM Wesley So, and both are 20 Elo points behind Caruana. The fourth player on the list is GM Leinier Dominguez, at 2752.

Aronian’s “eligibility date” (the date from which a player can represent the new federation free of any fees) is set as November 8, 2023, but US Chess is currently in the process of submitting an “Application for Participation in FIDE Event Prior to Eligibility Date” form which will enable Aronian to participate in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in December.

Normally speaking, GM Hikaru Nakamura would be the fifth American player with a rating of 2736. However, because he hasn’t played a FIDE-rated game for two years, Nakamura has been removed from the list.

During the pandemic, FIDE has extended the period for inactivity from one year to two. Nakamura played his last official classical game on November 6, 2019, at the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg. Playing one rated game would be enough for Nakamura to return to the rating list.

FIDE Standard Ratings Per December 1, 2021 (Top 20)

In the women’s list we see fewer changes at the top, but another player who achieved a huge gain in rating points, almost as big as Firouzja’s. GM Lei Tingjie’s marvelous performance at the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Grand Prix was good for 30 Elo points, with which she jumped from 14th to seventh place in the world.

IM Elisabeth Paehtz, who tied for second place in the same tournament, won 22 points, broke 2500 and has the world’s top 10 in sight.

FIDE Standard Ratings (Women) Per December 1, 2021 (Top 20)