King Watcher is starting a new monthly column the Chess Power Rankings, where we make a top 10 list of elite players according to their strength, form, influence, and potential. There was some change from the February Top 10 list. The WR Chess Masters was the most highlighted tournament of the month, where top players clashed. You can read more about the tournament in our previous article. Besides that, a few 2700 players played in the German Bundesliga. 

1. Magnus Carlsen

Last time: 1st

World Ranking: 1, Rating: 2852

Nothing changed at the top. The reigning world champion and the leader of the world ranking is still the easiest choice on the list. As the World Championship Match is getting closer, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his domination after he loses the title. But for now, he is the strongest player in the world.

2. Ian Nepomniatchi

Last time: 4th

World Ranking: 2, Rating: 2795

Ian played a good, fighting chess on the WR Chess Masters, which catapulted him to second place in our list. In the last 3 rounds, he defeated Aronian and Keymer with black, and the latter rewarded him a shared first place. His performance can give him confidence before the title match. 

3. Ding Liren

Last time: 3rd

World Ranking: 3, Rating: 2788

After the poor performance in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Ding Liren played no matches in February. We would be surprised if we can see him play before the title match.

4. Anish Giri

Last time: 2nd

World Ranking: 5, Rating: 2768

After good January, bad February was on the plate for Anish. In the WR Chess Masters, he did not win a single game. Except for one loss, he drew all of them. He fell 2 places in our list, but we are still optimistic about his 2023 performance and predict him to join Carlsen in the 2800+ club.

5. Alireza Firouzja

Last time: 5th

World Ranking: 4 Rating: 2785

The top junior on the list has not played a single over-the-board tournament since September. His new career in fashion design is taking away time from chess. Hopefully, we can see him soon playing chess.

6. Fabiano Caruana

Last time: 6th

World Ranking: 7, Rating: 2766

Caruana took a break in February, as he will play in the American Cup in March. Once the undisputed second-strongest player in the world needs to show his strength to maintain back his position. As Carlsen resigns his title, he can have a realistic chance to dominate the remaining field.

7. Hikaru Nakamura

Last time: 7th

World Ranking: 6, Rating: 2768

Finally, we will see the king of chess streaming in action in March, as he will play in the American Cup. We are expecting fire on the board from him.

8. Wesley So

Last time: 8th

World Ranking: 8, Rating: 2761

Wesley played in the WR Chess Masters in February, where he had 1 win and 1 loss with the draws. With his average performance, he kept the 8th place on our list.  

9. Gukesh D

Last time: 10th

World Ranking: 18, Rating: 2730

The 16-year-old had an excellent performance last month, as he shared first place in the very strong WR Chess Masters. He successfully gained one place in our Top 10, with a potential to get higher as he is playing a lot of over-the-board chess. 

10. Levon Aronian

Last time: New entry

World Ranking: 11, Rating: 2745

Levon once viewed as a World Champion candidate won the Dusseldorf tournament impressively with a start-to-finish victory. He seems to have found his winning form in 2023.

Dropped out: 

Nodirbek Abdusattorov – Nodirbek shows us a poor performance in February as he finished at the bottom in the WR Chess Masters. We are sure that he will be back on our list in the coming months.

Upcoming tournaments in March:

We will see the American players in action in the American Cup, where So, Nakamura, Caruana, Dominguez Perez and Shankland will all play. Also, there will be some national leagues, the German and Austrian Bundesliga, where Rapport and Vachier-Lagrave play regularly. The Reykjavik Open starts on the 29th of March, but we will count it on the May list.