Eddy Merckx Closes the Gap in Blois ELO Race
The 2026 World Championship in Blois, France did more than crown a champion. It changed the ELO race.
After Belgium, the story looked simple. Cho Myung Woo was No. 1 with 1933 ELO, and the distance between him and the rest of the field looked serious. He had built the kind of lead that makes a ranking race feel almost settled before the next big event begins.
Blois changed that feeling.
Cho is still No. 1. That part did not change. But the gap is no longer a wall. Eddy Merckx climbed the mountain, won the World Championship, beat Cho on the way, and pulled the top of the ranking back into reach.
Before Blois, Cho led the closest player by 141 ELO points. After Blois, Merckx cut the gap to 72 points.
That is the story of Blois. The favorite stayed on top of the ranking, but the champion changed the pressure around him.
Blois made the ELO race feel alive again
The numbers tell the first part of the story clearly. Cho took a major hit. Merckx made the biggest statement at the top. Bao Phuong Vinh confirmed his place among the elite. Sidhom and Tasdemir also made strong moves.
Player | Before Blois | After Blois | Change |
Cho M.W. | 1933 | 1891 | -42 |
Merckx E. | 1748 | 1819 | +71 |
Bao P.V. | 1743 | 1772 | +29 |
Jaspers D. | 1792 | 1750 | -42 |
Sidhom S. | 1645 | 1693 | +48 |
Tasdemir T. | 1513 | 1604 | +91 |
The headline is simple: Cho remains No. 1, but Merckx has made the race real again.
Before Blois, Cho’s lead over the closest player was 141 points. That is a large cushion in an ELO system, especially at the top of a world-class field. It means a player has not just been winning. It means the system sees a wide performance gap.
After Blois, the lead dropped to 72 points. That is still meaningful. Cho still owns first place. But the conversation feels different now. The ranking no longer looks like one player moving away while everyone else fights for second.
It looks like a race.
Merckx’s gain of 71 points matters because it came at the perfect time and against the right opponents. World Championship points carry emotional weight, but the ELO movement matters because it reflects who he beat and where he beat them.
Blois was not a minor adjustment. It was a reset near the top.
Merckx did not just win, he beat the No. 1 player clearly
A World Championship title always says something. This one said more because of the road Merckx took.
He beat Cho. He survived Sidhom. He beat Bao in the final.
That is not an easy path. It is a championship road with real resistance at every stage. The result that changed everything was the match against Cho:
Merckx 50, Cho 26
That score is the center of the tournament’s ELO story. Cho arrived in Blois as the clear No. 1. He had the biggest number, the biggest gap, and the strongest ranking position. Merckx did not edge past him in a tight escape. He beat him clearly.
That matters in two ways.
First, it changed the tournament. Beating Cho opened the door for Merckx to take control of the event. Once the No. 1 player was out of his way, Merckx still had work to do, but the entire championship picture shifted.
Second, it changed the ranking race. ELO responds strongly when a top player loses to a lower-rated challenger, especially when the challenger continues winning. Merckx did not collect points from a single upset and disappear. He turned the win into a title.
That is why Blois feels bigger than one result.
The final confirmed Merckx’s championship level
Merckx still had to finish the job. Bao Phuong Vinh reached the final with momentum of his own, and his tournament was strong enough to move him to No. 3 in the ELO ranking.
The final ended this way:
Final | Score |
Merckx | 50 |
Bao | 39 |
Merckx was stronger in the final. Bao played well, but Merckx had the bigger scoring weapon when it mattered.
His 15 high run gave the match shape. In three-cushion billiards, a high run can do more than add points. It can change rhythm. It can put pressure on the opponent’s next visit. It can make a close match feel like it has tilted.
That is what happened here. Bao stayed competitive, and his final run in the tournament deserves respect. Reaching the World Championship final and rising to No. 3 in ELO is not a small step. It confirms that Bao belongs in the top conversation.
But the final belonged to Merckx.
A 50 to 39 score at this level is not a blowout, but it is clear. Merckx created separation, protected it, and closed the match. After beating Cho earlier, he still had the focus to finish against another elite opponent.
That is how a World Championship becomes more than a title. It becomes a statement.
Cho is still on top, but the pressure has changed
The most important ranking fact after Blois is easy to miss because Merckx won the title.
Cho Myung Woo is still No. 1.
Even after losing 42 ELO points, Cho sits at 1891. That is still the highest number in this group. The top spot did not change hands.
What changed is the feeling around it.
Before Blois, Cho’s lead made the ranking race look like a long climb for everyone else. The question was not only who could catch him. It was whether anyone could get close enough to make him feel pressure.
Merckx answered that question.
The gap is now 72 points, and that is a much different number than 141. A lead of 72 still gives Cho room. He does not need to panic. He does not need to win every match to stay No. 1. But he can no longer feel as far away from the field as he looked after Belgium.
This is where the ELO story becomes interesting. Rankings are not only about where players stand today. They also shape the pressure of the next event.
For Cho, the next tournaments become about control. He must stop the slide, protect No. 1, and remind the field why he built that big lead in the first place.
For Merckx, the next tournaments become about pursuit. He has the World Championship title, the momentum, and the proof that he can beat the player above him.
That makes the next chapter sharper.
Bao, Sidhom, and Tasdemir added depth to the race
Blois was not only about Cho and Merckx. The ELO movements behind them also matter.
Bao gained 29 points, moving from 1743 to 1772. That put him at No. 3 in the ELO ranking after the event. A finalist’s run at a World Championship is a strong result by itself, but Bao’s ranking move adds more weight. He did not just have a good week. He strengthened his place near the top.
Sidhom gained 48 points, moving from 1645 to 1693. That is one of the strongest jumps in the table. The brief tournament story says Merckx survived Sidhom, which gives a clue about the danger he brought to Blois. Even without the title, Sidhom left with a stronger ELO position and more evidence that he can affect the top of the draw.
Tasdemir had the biggest raw gain listed, rising 91 points from 1513 to 1604. That kind of movement can change how a player’s season looks. It may not put him next to Cho or Merckx yet, but it signals a major tournament impact.
Jaspers moved the other way, dropping 42 points from 1792 to 1750. That mirrors Cho’s loss in the table, and it reshapes the cluster behind the leader. A drop like that can tighten the chase group and make every future match feel more expensive.
Together, these moves show why Blois mattered. The event did not only crown Merckx. It pulled several players into new positions and changed the spacing across the top group.
The meaning of a 72-point gap
A 72-point ELO gap is still a real lead. Cho remains in control of the top line because he earned that position over time. One tournament did not erase his ranking strength.
But the gap now invites pressure.
At 141 points, the chase felt distant. A player behind Cho needed a major run, and Cho likely needed to stumble. After Blois, that is exactly what happened. Merckx made the run. Cho took the hit. The race tightened.
Now every top-level meeting between Cho and Merckx carries extra force. If Cho wins, he can rebuild space. If Merckx wins again, the race tightens even more. If Bao continues climbing, the top three can become a much more crowded fight.
That is what makes ELO useful. It does not only reward trophies. It tracks the strength of results and turns them into a moving picture of form, pressure, and distance.
The Eddy Merckx Closes the Gap in Blois ELO Race story is really about momentum. Cho still owns the summit, but Merckx has changed the climb. The other players can now see a route upward.
Why Merckx’s title feels different
Some titles confirm what everyone already believed. This one changed the conversation.
Merckx’s World Championship win in Blois feels different because it included three layers:
He won the title.
He beat Cho directly.
He cut the ranking gap almost in half.
That combination is rare and powerful. A player can win a title without facing the No. 1. A player can beat the No. 1 and still fail to finish the event. A player can gain ELO without creating a clear championship story.
Merckx did all three at once.
That is why the match against Cho matters so much. Merckx 50, Cho 26 was not just a result on the bracket. It was a direct answer to the ranking. Cho had the number. Merckx produced the performance.
Then came the final. Merckx 50, Bao 39 gave the tournament a clean ending. No loose argument. No unfinished feeling. Merckx beat the No. 1 on the way and beat the new No. 3 in the final.
That is a champion’s route.
The next chapter starts with Cho still at No. 1
Blois did not remove Cho from the top. It made the top more dangerous.
He remains No. 1 with 1891 ELO, and that still matters. A ranking lead, even a smaller one, is proof of consistent strength. Cho does not need a comeback story. He needs a response.
Merckx now sits at 1819 ELO, close enough to make every major event count. The gap is not gone, but it is no longer huge. His World Championship run gave him the title, the points, and the belief that Cho can be caught.
Bao’s rise to 1772 adds another layer. If he keeps reaching finals, this will not stay a two-player race for long. Sidhom and Tasdemir also left Blois with positive movement, which means the field behind the top names gained energy too.
That is the lasting impact of Blois. It did not give the ranking a new No. 1. It gave the ranking a new tension.
Cho is still the mountain. Merckx proved the mountain can be climbed. And now the ELO race has a pulse again.
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