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About The Luft

The Luft tells the stories behind chess games: what happened, why it mattered and who made it happen. Around the stories is a reference for the top of the game: live results from the elite tournaments, and a profile of every player in them.

News and results are free, always. The site is run from Australia, and supported by readers who choose to give.

What you'll find here

  • Stories about the games, players and events that matter, written to be read, not skimmed.
  • Tournaments, live as they're played: rounds, results, standings and every game move by move.
  • Players: a profile for everyone in the events we follow, with their ratings over the years, results, openings, best wins and trophy cabinet.
  • Rankings: FIDE's top 100s in classical, rapid and blitz, for everyone, women and juniors.

The Luft rating

FIDE ratings move slowly. The Luft rating is our own: it starts from a player's FIDE rating, then adjusts it for how they've played in top events over the last 12 months. Tougher tournaments, wins against elite opposition, tournament victories and crucial games count for more, and recent months count for more than older ones. It's our answer to a simple question: who is playing the best chess right now?

Alongside it, players earn flair, medals for what they're known for over the year (an endgame specialist, a fighter who rarely draws, a black belt with the black pieces), and a radar chart of their strengths. Women are measured against women, so the best in women's chess earn them too.

Where the data comes from

Games and results come from Lichess broadcasts and the official results of each event. Ratings and player details come from FIDE, by way of Lichess's copy of FIDE's lists. Older titles come from Wikidata and Wikipedia. If something about a player is wrong, tell us.

Credits

Chess pieces on our boards: Cburnett set by Colin M. L. Burnett, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Medal icons: Lucide (ISC licence); the dog from Font Awesome (CC BY 4.0); the black belt by Delapouite from game-icons.net (CC BY 3.0).