The 11th European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship is held from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, in new Zamet Centre sports hall. The event is organized by chess club “Rijeka”, in agreement with the Croatian Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Rijeka and the European Chess Union. It is open to all players representing the chess federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation.

The championship is based on Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Rules of Chess. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. As always, the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify.

Rounds 4-5

Especially the 4th round in Rijeka saw a number of highly entertaining games and in this report we’ll present a few diagrams to give you an idea of how amazing the game of chess can be (if you didn’t knew already). Let’s start with the following brilliancy by Georgia’s number one player Baadur Jobava.

Krasenkow-Jobava
Position after 32…Rxe3

Imaginative play by Baadur Jobava

18-year-old Tamir Nabaty from Israel is a player without any title yet, but he’ll probably become at least an IM soon. In Rijeka he drew with GM Zoltan Gyimesi and then defeated GMs Gadir Guseinov and Ildar Khairullin, only to be stopped by top seeded GM Zoltan Almasi yesterday. The game against Khairullin had a nice finish.

Nabaty-Khairullin
Position after 31…Kc7

Selection of games rounds 4-5

Game viewer by ChessTempo

The top boards of the 5th round

Young & old in Rijeka

Photos courtesy of the official website, more here

Links

• Official website
• All details and statistics
• Games in PGN: Men | Women via TWIC

At the European Championship website we’re informed of the following:

Mr. Silvio Danailov, vice-president of the Bulgarian Chess Federation will host a reception for delegates and guests of the ECU General Assembly on Saturday, 13th March at 9PM, in Opatija at the hotel Millenium (M. Tita 109).

At the reception Mr. Danailov will announce his candidacy for the President of the European Chess Union at the upcoming elections and will present the basic guidelines of his programme.

Danailov is executive director of the Grand Slam Chess Association and manager of Veselin Topalov and Ivan Cheparinov. By running for ECU President, Danailov is rivalling against the other candidates: Ali Nihat Yazici, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, and Boris Kutin, the reigning ECU President.

Chessdom posted part of the program that the Danailov team is preparing, which we quote below:

Dear friends in chess,

I speak to you as a person who spent his best years as a chess player, trainer, manager and organizer. Doing my job, I have always tried to make it as professional as possible, bringing new ideas and aspiring to higher standards.

I am proud of the fact that some of my ideas and standards of organizing competitions have been accepted even at the most important chess tournaments in the world.

I have accepted the initiative of my friends and I am running for the President of the European Chess Union, but this doesn’t mean I am ready to give unrealistic promises.

My campaign to win your vote will be led under the slogan “I know…”
In the highest interest of the progress of the European Chess Union and chess in Europe in general, I am prepared to implement all those ideas and results I have reached so far in the following areas:

- Training and management of the leading chess players
- Organization of top-level chess competitions with the highest possible standards
- Drawing undivided attention of the media and sponsors towards chess
- Contacts with influential people for the prosperity of chess
Including youth competitions in elite tournaments…

I will be happy if I win your support with this program and if you bring along any new ideas.

Sincerely yours,

Silvio Danailov

Another interesting item at the European Championship website is the protest of 110 players against the zero-tolerance rule:

The participants of the 11. European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championsh have submitted a petition to the Organizing commitee and Boris Kutin (the president of European Chess Union) in which they request changing the delay tolerance from 0 to 30 minutes. They require this measurement to be valid from the 4th round and was signed by 110 participants.

Due to request, on the behalf of Organizing commitee, the president of the Executive Commitee Damir Vrhovnik said:

“The organizers are trying to do their best for the sake of our players. In accordance to that, on the behalf of Organizing commitee and myself, I support the participants’ request. However, this question is under the European Chess Union’ jurisdiction and therefore, they are the ones who must make the decision.“

We first mentioned the zero-tolerance rule in our article on all new rules in the FIDE Laws of Chess which came into effect on July 1st, 2009. Later, in our column ‘Too late to leave?’ we commented on the forfeiting of Li Chao and Wang Yue for arriving a little too late for their second rapid game in round 3 of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. This column provoked 174 comments.

Links

• Tournament website

The 11th European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship is held from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, in new Zamet Centre sports hall. The event is organized by chess club “Rijeka”, in agreement with the Croatian Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Rijeka and the European Chess Union. It is open to all players representing the chess federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation.

The championship is based on Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Rules of Chess. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. As always, the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify.

Rounds 1-3

Top seed Zoltan Almasi started with a draw with Black against Italian GM Lexy Ortega. In this first round, played on Saturday, Russian top GMs Alexander Motylev and Evgeny Tomashevsky, the reigning European Champion, also started with draws. The biggest upsets were IM Artem Smirnov beating GM Evgeniy Najer, IM Pavel Potapov beating Viktor Laznicka, FM Burak Firat beating GM Konstantin Sakaev and FM Danny Raznikov beating GM Zaven Andriasian. On one of the lowest boards, Dutch GM Friso Nijboer was held to a draw by Denis Kadric (2171).

The second round saw two draws on the top boards, in Stefansson-Bacrot and Movsesian-Ragger. Moldav top GM Viktor Bologan lost to Bulgarian GM Valentin Iotov and GM Avetik Grigoryan defeated GM Kiril Georgiev. Ivan Cheparinov, long-time team member of Veselin Topalov, lost to Spanish GM Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez, but another Bulgarian of the same generation did better: IM Momchil Nikolov defeated GM Boris Savchenko. FM Hamitevici Vladimir managed to beat GM Mateusz Bartel in this round.

Round 3 was played on International Women’s Day, and all the women playing in the tournament received a rose “as a small sign of appreciation to all women players and all the ladies participating in the organization of this big sporting event”.

Dutch ladies Lisa Schut, Anne Haast and Arlette van Weersel, with roses at the chess boards

In the women’s section there are four leaders with a perfect score after three rounds: Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS), who is the only survivor from the ten best rated players, Monica Socko (POL), Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (SCO) and Irina Chelushkina (SRB).

Back to the men. After three rounds there are still 13 players with a 100% score. Among them are the two young international masters Sasa Martinovic (CRO) and Jure Skoberne (SLO) who in round 3 defeated GMs Vorobiov and Howell respectively. David Navara, these days boasting a 2708 rating, lost to Yannick Pelletier yesterday. Cheparinov went down again, this time against IM Artem Smirnov. IM Pavel Povatov and FM Burak Firat had more successes: the former defeated GM Tomi Nyback, the latter beat GM Gregorz Gajewski.

Today’s round will see some interesting encounters: Vallejo Pons-Timofeev, Krasenkow-Jobava, Naiditsch-Efimenko, Pelletier-Inarkiev, Skoberne-Nisipeanu, Nepomniashtchi-Maiorov and Adams-Martinovic. In the women’s section there are two clashes at the top: Arakhamia-T.Kosintseva and Socko-Chelushkina.

A nice curiosity about the European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship in Rijeka

For the first time, there will be a ‘priest’ to represent – unofficially – the State of Vaticano. Unofficially because Vaticano is not (yet) affiliated to FIDE.

The name of the priest who will partecipate to the European Championship is Don Valerio Piro, from Neapolis; he got the formal authorization from Cardinal Sepe (note that Cardinal is more than Bishop; the Cardinal reports directly to the Pope).

Don Valerio is candidate-master for the Italian Chess Federation. Officially he is registered as Italy, but he will play with the flag of Vaticano. This is the first partecipation of a representative of the little State that is not afffiliated to FIDE. But only for the moment, as there are many priest that are good chessplayer.

Historically, the first (important) was Ruy Lopez – the inventor of the famous opening. The last one is William Lombardy, assistant of Bobby Fischer.

There is the idea to organize a championship for ‘ecclesiastics’ (priests, friars, monks, nuns), then there will be the possibility to create a Chess Federation of the state of Vaticano. So may be that it will be possible to see a team fom Vaticano also in the Olympiads.

The news had a good interest in the Italian newspapers and press agency. Please find enclosed the links (sorry, but the articles are in Italian!). Please note that the most important ‘catholic’ newspaper, Avvenire, dedicated a complete page to the news.

• http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/regioni/campania/2010/02/28/visualizza_new.html_1709041681.html
• http://napoli.repubblica.it/dettaglio/scacchi-parroco-di-boscotrecase-primo-sacerdote-agli-europei/1875352
• http://www.ilvesuvio.it/index.php?page=0&news=8711
• http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Regioni/Campania/Prete-ai-Campionati-europei-di-scacchi-Al-mio-rientro-lezioni-in-parrocchia_70956501.html
• http://www.libero-news.it/regioneespanso.jsp?id=360194

Thanks and best regards!
Adolivio Capece

Selection of games rounds 1-3

Game viewer by ChessTempo

The venue is the Zamet Centre (16,830 m2), which hosts various facilities: a sports hall with max 2,380 seats, local community offices, a library, 13 retail and service spaces and a garage with 250 parking spaces.

These days the sports hall is occupied with tables, seats and chess sets...

...and hundreds of chess players

Croatian chess fans watching the games from the side

Vallejo Pons, from Linares to Rijeka, with Michael Adams next to him

Local hero GM Marin Bosiocic (r.), here against GM Ernesto Inarkiev, has many fans

Top seed GM Antoaneta Stefanova (l.), here against WGM Sopiko Guramishvili

Second seeded is IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, but another favourite...

...is her sister Tatiana, two times European Champion already

Photos courtesy of the official website, more here

Links

• Official website
• All details and statistics
• Games in PGN: Men | Women via TWIC

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000.

The world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times.

The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651).

Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added.

Below you’ll find an appetizer video. Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs!

Video

Link

• Official website

The 11th European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship will be held from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, in new sports hall „Center Zamet“.

The event is organized by chess club “Rijeka”, in agreement with the Croatian Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Rijeka and the European Chess Union. It is open to all players representing the chess federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation.

The championship will be based on Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Rules of Chess. The playing time will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. As always, the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify.

Yesterday the opening ceremony was held at the Sports Centre Zamet in Rijeka. From the organizers’ press release:

The Championship was officially opened with the symbolic first move by Rijeka’s Mayor Vojko Obersnel who pointed out that the City of Rijeka, the neighbouring City of Opatija and the entire Region shall live the next two weeks in the rhythm of this Championship. He also said that the hosts can not wait to show their hospitality to all the chess enthusiasts. Obersnel wished good luck and a lot of success to all the players, wishing that this event will be unforgettable for them.

A warm welcome was also offered by the Executive Committee President Damir Vrhovnik who said that it is a special pleasure to host 590 chess players coming from 41 different European countries, among whom there are 246 grandmasters, and that this confirms that this Championship in Rijeka is the strongest male and female chess championship ever held in the organization of the European Chess Union. “I believe that this chess spectacle, along with invested efforts and our wish for its best possible organization will position Rijeka and Croatia on the European chess map”, Vrhovnik concluded.

Representing Croatian Chess Federation, its president Stjepan Šurlan greeted the guests and pointed out how this Championship is a great honour for Rijeka, as well as for the Federation, which is proud of its rich tradition and organization of chess competitions.

The President of European Chess Federation, Boris Kutin, pointed out that there is no need to be a chess expert to understand that in this moment Rijeka is the capital of the chess world. “I wish everyone a pleasant stay, good luck and success, but also to enjoy the competition“, Kutin said.

A musical introduction to the typical local atmospehere of the city and the region that hosts this competition was given by a fenale capella group singers Klapa Luka, and at the end, the ceremony was closed by the dance group Flash Dance Unit.

Today the 1st round starts at 15.30 PM. Live games here.

Links

• Official website
• All details and statistics

Photo: Peter Heine Nielsen

His full name is Jørgen Bent Larsen. He was born March 4, 1935 in Thisted, Denmark. Larsen has been a six-time Danish champion, and a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on four occasions: 1965, 1968, 1971, and 1977. He won three Interzonal tournaments: Amsterdam 1964, Sousse 1967, and Biel 1976.

Larsen is considered to be the strongest chess player ever born in Denmark, and strongest in Scandinavia at least until the emergence of Magnus Carlsen. Larsen won several dozen major international tournaments during his career, and was awarded the first Chess Oscar in 1967. Since the early 1970s, he has lived for part of the year in Las Palmas and in Buenos Aires, with his Argentinian-born wife.

Larsen became an International Grandmaster in 1956 with his gold-medal performance on board one at the Moscow Olympiad. He scored his first major individual international success by winning Mar del Plata 1958 with 12/15.

In the early 60s Larsen diversified his style, switching over to risky and unusual openings in some of his games, to try to throw his opponents off balance; this led to the recovery of his form and further development of his chess.

Clare-Benedict tournament, Copenhagen 1977, teammate IM Svend Hamann is looking on | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

He experimented with e.g. Bird’s Opening (1. f4) and 1.b3, which is called the Larsen Opening or the Nimzo-Larsen Attack. Next Saturday a big rapid tournament will be held in the center of Copenhagen, with amongst others GM Lars Bo Hansen, GM Jonny Hector and GM Sune Berg Hansen. All games in the first round must start with 1.b3.

Larsen reached his top rank in the Elo rating system at the start of 1971, equal third in the world (with Korchnoi, behind Fischer and Spassky) with a rating of 2660. In the same year he famously lost the Candidates semi-final match in Denver 0-6 to Fischer, who went on to win the title.

Holding a Chess Informant at a lecture, appr. 1980 | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

Larsen later claimed in a Kasparov.com interview (1998) that his one-sided loss to Fischer was due in part to his condition during the match: “The organizers chose the wrong time for this match. I was languid with the heat and Fischer was better prepared for such exceptional circumstances… I saw chess pieces through a mist and, thus, my level of playing was not good.”

Together with Fischer, Larsen was clearly the strongest tournament player from the West in the years 1965-1973. Victories include Le Havre 1966, Havana 1967, Winnipeg 1967, Palma de Mallorca 1967, Monte Carlo 1968, Palma de Mallorca 1969, Lugano 1970 and Teesside 1972. In the USSR vs Rest of the World match at Belgrade 1970, he played first board for the World side, ahead of Fischer, and scored 2.5/4 against Spassky and Leonid Stein.

In Buenos Aires, January 2010 | Photo Peter Heine Nielsen

Larsen has continued to play occasionally in tournaments to the present day. In 1999 he finished 7th of 10 in the Danish Championship, but in the 2000 event he was forced to withdraw when he became seriously ill with an edema, requiring brain surgery. He has played in only a few tournaments in Buenos Aires since then. In 2008 he playes his first tournament in four years, and avoiding theory in every game, the famous Dane only played very exotic openings and scored… 0 out of 9. It inspired us to ask the organizer of the Chess960 tournament in Mainz to invite Larsen.

For this article we used Wikipedia which has a large entry with much more details on Bent Larsen.

In 1950 Skakbladet had an annotation competition, and the winning game had the honour of being annotated game no. 2,500 in the magazine since its inception in 1904. The winner was Bent Larsen, and the editor with great political correctness told how, by a strange coincidence game no. 2,500 was won by an ordinary, totally unknown representative of the ordinary Danish club players. The winner was Bent Larsen – and the editor was never allowed to forget!

Ahead of the World Junior Championship in Copenhagen 1953, arguably the strongest ever, IM Jens Enevoldsen suggested a training match of six games between him and Larsen. He told me later that his plan was that it should end as a 3-3 draw so you historically you could say, that the old master passed the scepter to the future.

Enevoldsen was in fact very lucky that the match was still equal ahead of the last game which was a seasaw game with the players alternately better. Larsen went wrong in a better position, and disaster threatened Enevoldsen – he had a clear win, but if he won, who would ever remember the match.

So, he offered a draw that Larsen of course accepted though he didn’t understand a thing. Explanation followed when Enevoldsom immediately demonstrated the forced win, and even if a well behaved Larsen never said anything, Enevoldsen knew that he was furious, – and I never think that he forgave me!

I have had many experiences with Larsen, and I published his tournament book about the great victory in Manila 1973 on my small hobby publishing firm. It is but a very small part of a fantastic production of books and articles that still continues. Imagine what it means to a small country to have had authors like Niemzowitsch, Enevoldsen, and Bent Larsen ….!

Larsen emigrated from Denmark after a controversy with tax people and a growing dissatisfaction with the way the Danish state moved politically but he never quit his good relations to the ordinary Danish chess players – or his bad relations to the Danish Chess Federation that probably has never treated him like the world star he has been and is until these latest years.

There are lots of other memories but I would like to share one of his lesser known openings with you, played as white against Miguel Quinteros in Orense 1975. Never move you pawns too often in the opening. You know that but what do you think about…

1.c4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Be3 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.g4 Nf6 8.f3 h5? 9.g5 Nh7 10.Qd2 f5 11.h4 Nf8 12.c5 a6 13.b4 Nd7 14.a4 O-O 15.a5

White won from this position as a matter of simple tecnique.

Svend Novrup,
President of Association Internationale de la Presse Echiquenne

To celebrate Larsen’s 75th birthday, the Danish Chess Federation has dedicated a special edition of Skakbladet to the great master. The magazine can be downloaded at http://www.dsu.dk/skakblad/sb2010/larsen.pdf (in Danish only).

Tonight Larsen will be celebrated both in Copenhagen, Aarhus and in Koege in various arrangements. We already mentioned the rapid tournament next Saturday. In connection with the strongest chess tournament in Denmark, the Politiken Cup, GM Peter Svidler (Russia) and the leading Danish player, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, will play a combined rapid and blitz match in honour of Bent Larsen. The match takes place in Elsinore August 2-5. From October 11 till 22, ten Grandmasters will play Bent Larsen’s 75th year birthday tournament in Koege. The players are still to be announced.

Three points ahead, Buenos Aires 1979

Making a speech at the closing dinner for Nimzowitsch Memorial, Næstved 1985. | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

A portrait from 1988 | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

Danish Championship 1994 v. IM Klaus Berg | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

In a boxing-ring with heavyweight World Champion Brian Nielsen, 1996 in Copehagen | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

Member of honour, 1998, with The Danish Chess Federation at that time, Søren Bech Hansen | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

With the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Niels Helveg Petersen (a strong amateur chess-player himself), 1999 | Photo Thorbjørn Rosenlund

In Buenos Aires, January 2010 | Photo Peter Heine Nielsen

The Reykjavik Open took place February 24 – March 3 in the capital of Iceland. It was a 9-round Swiss with 104 players (20 GMs, 16 IMs). The rate of play was 1.5 hours for 40 moves plus 30 minutes to end te game, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1. The main sponsor was MP Bank, the bank started by grandmaster Margeir Pétursson and the only bank in Iceland that more or less managed to avoid the biggest damage in the crisis so far.

As always the Reykjavik open was quite a strong event, with 11 GMs rated higher than 2550 and six rated 2600 or higher. Besides the usual suspects (Baklan, Dreev…) there were the sometimes quite famous veterans (Westerinen, Ehlvest, Romanishin) and some of the biggest talents around (Nyzhnyk, Jorge and Deysi Cori).

In the end the first place was shared between Abhijeet Gupta (India), Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Hannes Stefansson (Iceland). Sokolov recovered well from his terrible result at his last open, the open in Cappelle-la-Grande. For local hero Stefansson it was the third time in a row that he ended (shared) first, and the fifth time in total.

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Veterans meet: Alexey Dreev (Russia) vs Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine)

Newcomers meet: Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine) vs Ilya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine)

Peruvian rising star Jorge Cori vs Iceland's number two (on rating still behind the inactive Johann Hjartarson) Hannes Stefansson

Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) vs Irina Krush (USA)

A draw in the last round between Hannes Stefansson and Abhijeet Gupta

The fifth victory for Stefansson

Photos courtesy of the tournament website

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Photo: Fred Lucas

Professor Dr Johan Wilhelm van Hulst was born in Amsterdam on January 28th, 1911. He’s a Dutch emeritus professor of education and a politician. Starting as a teacher and mentor, from 1942 to 1960 Van Hulst was Principal of the Pedagogical Academy in Amsterdam and in that capacity he was responsible for rescuing hundreds of Jewish babies and children from the nursery of the Hollandsche Schouwburg. For this he received the Yad Vashem Distinction in 1973. About this period he said:

“The director of the kindergarten, our neighbor, asked me if she could use the school because the nursery was full. I made available an empty room and a part of the garden. Soon, this became the flight route for the children. Many children were smuggled away from the school. Members of the resistance could just walk in and out, because the Germans did not notice the school. Probably because I deliberately acted like I didn’t want anything to do with the Hollandsche Schouwburg and the Jews.” Source: Verzetsmuseum

Van Hulst earned a doctoral education and psychology and graduated in 1961. From 1956 to 1981 he was member of the Senate of the Dutch government and from 1961 to 1968 Member of the European Parliament. He’s a former Chairman of the political parties CHU and CDA and held many other functions. Van Hulst is also author of numerous scientific publications and books; the last was published when he was 95.

Consultation between (L-R) Gerard Leijenhorst, Johan van Hulst (CDA chairman for the Senate) and Ruud Lubbers (chairman CDA for the Parliament)

In the chess world he is no stranger either. He was quite a strong player himself and in fact was once invited to play for the Dutch team at one of the Olympiads. However, Van Hulst had to decline the invitation, with the knowledge that he would lose his job as School Principal if he would play. This was the moment he decided that he wouldn’t pursue a chess career. But for decades he has played in the special group for (former) parliamentarians at the Corus Chess Tournament, and won it many times, including the 2010 edition, at 99 years old.

Johan van Hulst giving one of his famous speeches,
during the 2010 Corus Chess Tournament | Photo Fred Lucas

I play chess myself very little these days. This season I’ve probably played just three or four games at my Amsterdam club Caïssa. Last year the ‘Max Euwe’ chess club ceased to exist and its members transferred to Caïssa. On the first club night in September last year, we met with our new club members, and one of them was the distinguished Professor Van Hulst. He is an honorary member of the Caïssa Chess Club, and has been a member for about seventy years.

“I have been a spectator at all of Max Euwe’s matches in Holland,” he told us on that Tuesday night. “During one of the early games of the 1935 match, Emanuel Lasker was one of the spectators. I asked him what he’d think of Euwe’s chances.” We were listening in awe to Mr Van Hulst, a magical figure already, who saw Euwe play, who talked to Lasker… Of course we immediately asked: “What did Lasker answer?” Van Hulst, smiling: “I remember very clearly. He said Alekhine should be considered slight favourite, considering the time control they were playing.”

Johan van Hulst in 2007 | Photo Fred Lucas

Later that evening he also told about the period of the Second World War. “I was the chairman of a chess club here in Amsterdam. At the end of the 1930s the situation for our Jewish members became more and more difficult. At some point they weren’t allowed to play anymore, so we decided to secretly play at their houses instead of at the club. Later this had to stop as well.

One night an SS officer walked into our club. ‘I want to be come a club member and play here,’ he told me. I had to think deeply, and then I responded: “Are you a Christian? You have to be a member of our Christian community too, you know.’ This way I managed to get rid of him.”

Van Hulst still plays almost every week. He’s being brought and picked up by taxi, and needs a walker or a stick to move around. “Not long ago he had to skip a club night,” the current chairman of the club told me. “The next week he came and apologized for his absence, but he had a very good reason. His daughter had turned 60.”

Last night I decided to go to my club, and to my surprise I was paired against Professor Van Hulst. Remembering the many stories, and with deep respect for my opponent, I had trouble concentrating. But that’s no excuse; I simply played badly. More importantly, except for the opening I believe he played quite strongly, as if there was no age difference of 65 years.

Van Hulst-Doggers
Amsterdam (Caïssa) 2010

Game viewer by ChessTempo

After the game I said: “I won the opening, you won the ending.” He answered with “I’m an old man, you know. I’m getting tired after a few hours of play.” Then he asked me about my rating. I told him it was a bit over 2200. “Aha! Well, perhaps I shouldn’t tell you mine, then. Well, OK, it’s 1600.”

After that he stood up, grabbed his walker, adding “I’m satisfied about the game.” He went for his coat. “I’m satisfied too,” I replied, having enjoyed the evening, and feeling OK about a draw against this man. But he was quick in pointing out that this was just nonsense: “I don’t think you have any reason to be satisfied!” I smiled, knowing that he was right. In the end he was the one who had won.

Photo © Fred Lucas;
for another photo see also Schaaksite

Sunday night Anatoli Karpov landed at the airport of Saratov, Russia for a simul and a meeting with the local governor. There, according to local news agency SarInform, Karpov announced that he has the ambition to become FIDE President.

“It is necessary to restore order,” Karpov was quoted. “The problems with the World Championship, the calendar, changes of decisions, changes during a cycle, this didn’t happen before. Besides, the prestige of the World Champion should return to its old level.”

The new Presidential elections which will take place during the General Assembly of the FIDE Congress, held during the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk in September this year. Nominations for the office of President must reach the FIDE Secretariat at least three months before the opening of the General Assembly. To be elected, each candidate must first be nominated by his federation. The Russian Chess Federation hasn’t yet officially nominated Anatoli Karpov as their candidate.

After Bessel Kok’s failed attempt to win the FIDE Presidential elections during the Turin Olympiad in May 2006, Karpov would be another big name fighting against current FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The 12th World Champion never concealed that he’s unhappy with Ilyumzhinov’s policy. During the opening press conference of their rapid and blitz match in Valencia last year, he and his old rival Garry Kasparov took the opportunity to heavily criticize FIDE.

In recent times, Karpov has been occupied mainly as a business man and politician. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. These days he only plays a few tournaments a year.

Links

• The SarInform article
• FIDE Handbook on Electoral Regulations

It’s already an improvement to have six rating lists a year instead of four, but today we are reminded again of the fact that a monthly, or even weekly official list might be even better. While Carlsen and Topalov are just one (in fact 0.7) rating point away from each other on the “live list” by Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website), on the official list the distance is 8 points because Linares hasn’t been counted yet.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand lost his third place to Vladimir Kramnik; between them there are just three points. This means that the upcoming World Championship match in Sofia will be played between the current world’s number 2 and 4.

Vugar Gashimov was Azerbaijan’s number one player briefly, but he’s out of the top 10 again. His 6th place is now occupied by his compatriot Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who is back among the elite after a lesser period. Grischuk and Svidler climbed to spots number 7 and 8.

Vassily Ivanchuk is out of the top 10 again; he dropped slightly from 8 to 11. Hikaru Nakamura saw a strong period awarded with a 17th place. Alexander Morozevich’ decline continued; the former World’s number 2 can now be found on spot 24. There are now 37 players with a rating of 2700 or higher.

In the women’s list nothing much changed. The difference between Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru decreased a bit further, from 68 to 60 points. Below you’ll find the new top 100, the top 100 women, the top 20 juniors and the top 20 girls. We give the first two lists including the changes with the previous lists. All data courtesy of FIDE.

FIDE MARCH 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 PLAYERS
Legend:
black color – player remained on the same position
green color – player moved up in the list
red color – player moved down in the list
blue color – player is new to the current Top list
Old represents player’s position in the previous period list

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2813 (+3)	13 (-3)
	2	2	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2805 (0)	0 (-4)
	3	4	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2790 (+2)	13 (-3)
	4	3	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2787 (-3)	13 (+4)
	5	5	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2782 (+1)	9 (-8)
	6	11	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2760 (+19)	9 (-10)
	7	15	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2756 (+20)	16 (+8)
	8	10	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2750 (+6)	9 (-18)
	9	6	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2750 (-11)	7 (-18)
	10	9	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2749 (0)	0 (-8)
	11	8	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2748 (-1)	13 (0)
	12	7	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2740 (-19)	7 (-14)
	13	16	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2740 (+7)	7 (-6)
	14	20	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2737 (+14)	13 (-6)
	15	13	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2737 (0)	0 (-25)
	16	14	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2736 (0)	0 (-14)
	17	28	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2735 (+27)	21 (+14)
	18	12	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2735 (-4)	13 (+4)
	19	18	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2727 (-3)	9 (-12)
	20	19	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2725 (-5)	14 (-3)
	21	21	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2725 (+5)	13 (+1)
	22	22	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	2721 (+5)	7 (-8)
	23	26	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	2720 (+10)	9 (+2)
	24	17	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2715 (-17)	6 (-13)
	25	23	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2715 (0)	0 (-10)
	26	24	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2714 (+1)	19 (+1)
	27	25	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2713 (+1)	13 (+9)
	28	41	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2710 (+18)	15 (+7)
	29	29	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2709 (+1)	10 (+8)
	30	31	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2708 (+3)	10 (0)
	31	27	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708 (0)	0 (-15)
	32	35	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	2705 (+8)	18 (+12)
	33	39	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2704 (+10)	10 (-7)
	34	40	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2702 (+9)	28 (+22)
	35	34	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2702 (0)	0 (-2)
	36	30	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2701 (-4)	14 (0)
	37	33	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2700 (-3)	9 (-4)
	38	36	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	2697 (0)	8 (+4)
	39	37	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	2697 (0)	0 (0)
	40	32	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	2695 (-9)	9 (-6)
	41	44	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	2691 (+4)	22 (+9)
	42	93	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2689 (+42)	35 (+15)
	43	49	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2688 (+10)	9 (-1)
	44	57	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2687 (+17)	9 (+5)
	45	42	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	2687 (-5)	9 (+1)
	46	83	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2686 (+33)	33 (+29)
	47	38	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2686 (-10)	13 (+6)
	48	45	Miroshnichenko, Evgenij	g	UKR	2686 (0)	0 (0)
	49	43	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	2684 (-8)	18 (+12)
	50	52	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2682 (+9)	18 (+12)
	51	46	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (0)	0 (-4)
	52	51	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2680 (+5)	22 (+4)
	53	48	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	2675 (-5)	15 (+3)
	54	60	Kurnosov, Igor	g	RUS	2674 (+6)	9 (-1)
	55	80	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	2672 (+18)	13 (+9)
	56	55	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2670 (0)	10 (-2)
	57	56	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2670 (0)	0 (-6)
	58	53	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	2669 (-3)	18 (+18)
	59	50	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2668 (-9)	9 (+9)
	60	82	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	2667 (+14)	27 (+9)
	61	98	Bareev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2667 (+24)	18 (+8)
	62	72	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2667 (+10)	13 (+3)
	63	89	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2667 (+18)	9 (+3)
	64	77	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2665 (+9)	22 (+14)
	65	61	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	2665 (0)	18 (+14)
	66	91	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2663 (+15)	9 (-8)
	67	68	Meier, Georg	g	GER	2663 (+5)	9 (-3)
	68	47	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	2661 (-20)	13 (+1)
	69	54	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	2660 (-12)	27 (+27)
	70	-	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2660 (+)	18 (+)
	71	63	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2660 (-1)	9 (+9)
	72	84	Laznicka, Viktor	g	CZE	2659 (+7)	9 (-7)
	73	66	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	2659 (0)	0 (-9)
	74	-	Lautier, Joel	g	FRA	2658 (+)	0 (+)
	75	65	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	2657 (-3)	19 (+4)
	76	86	Khismatullin, Denis	g	RUS	2657 (+6)	18 (+2)
	77	70	Beliavsky, Alexander G	g	SLO	2657 (0)	0 (-18)
	78	69	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2656 (-2)	18 (+8)
	79	76	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	2656 (0)	0 (-8)
	80	85	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2655 (+3)	18 (+14)
	81	62	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2653 (-9)	13 (+11)
	82	87	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	2653 (+3)	9 (0)
	83	-	Savchenko, Boris	g	RUS	2652 (+)	18 (+)
	84	94	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	2652 (+5)	15 (+9)
	85	78	Krasenkow, Michal	g	POL	2652 (-4)	9 (+9)
	86	75	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	2652 (-5)	6 (-2)
	87	73	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2651 (-6)	14 (+4)
	88	90	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2651 (+2)	1 (-1)
	89	74	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	2650 (-7)	20 (+11)
	90	79	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	2650 (-4)	10 (+2)
	91	-	Zhou, Jianchao	g	CHN	2650 (+)	9 (+)
	92	-	Fedorchuk, Sergey A.	g	UKR	2649 (+)	18 (+)
	93	58	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2648 (-20)	29 (+16)
	94	59	Smirin, Ilia	g	ISR	2647 (-21)	14 (+3)
	95	-	Gustafsson, Jan	g	GER	2646 (+)	10 (+)
	96	-	Andreikin, Dmitry	g	RUS	2645 (+)	9 (+)
	97	81	Baklan, Vladimir	g	UKR	2644 (-10)	9 (+7)
	98	96	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	2644 (0)	0 (-6)
	99	-	Granda Zuniga, Julio E	g	PER	2643 (+)	18 (+)
	100	67	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2643 (-16)	9 (+5)
	101	-	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	g	RUS	2643 (+)	9 (+)

FIDE MARCH 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (0)	0 (-4)
	2	2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2622 (+8)	10 (+2)
	3	3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2570 (-20)	18 (+4)
	4	4	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2555 (+10)	10 (+3)
	5	5	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2554 (+21)	18 (+9)
	6	7	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2533 (+10)	13 (-12)
	7	10	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2524 (+9)	18 (+10)
	8	8	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2524 (+1)	10 (0)
	9	6	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2523 (-5)	21 (+17)
	10	9	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2518 (0)	0 (-16)
	11	11	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2514 (0)	0 (0)
	12	13	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2506 (-4)	9 (+1)
	13	16	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2503 (0)	0 (-9)
	14	19	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2500 (+7)	19 (+12)
	15	12	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2500 (-12)	9 (+5)
	16	17	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2496 (-5)	7 (+7)
	17	32	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2492 (+30)	10 (+2)
	18	18	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2491 (-4)	2 (-9)
	19	15	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2490 (-14)	18 (+14)
	20	-	Galliamova, Alisa	m	RUS	2487 (+)	9 (+)
	21	21	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2487 (0)	0 (0)
	22	22	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2486 (+2)	9 (0)
	23	20	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2485 (-4)	10 (+1)
	24	14	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2479 (-27)	20 (+1)
	25	23	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2479 (0)	0 (-2)
	26	24	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2478 (0)	0 (-3)
	27	28	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2476 (+6)	7 (+3)
	28	25	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2473 (+2)	24 (+13)
	29	26	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2472 (+2)	5 (-11)
	30	53	Melia, Salome	m	GEO	2467 (+36)	31 (+22)
	31	-	Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman	m	IND	2466 (+)	11 (+)
	32	29	Qin, Kanying	wg	CHN	2466 (0)	0 (0)
	33	41	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2465 (+15)	8 (-6)
	34	31	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464 (0)	0 (-3)
	35	37	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2461 (+6)	24 (+19)
	36	30	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2461 (-5)	10 (+10)
	37	36	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2459 (+4)	8 (-5)
	38	42	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2457 (+9)	18 (+11)
	39	34	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2457 (0)	0 (-8)
	40	-	Polgar, Sofia	m	HUN	2457 (+)	0 (+)
	41	35	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2456 (0)	0 (0)
	42	38	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455 (0)	0 (0)
	43	40	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2452 (0)	0 (0)
	44	39	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2452 (0)	0 (-6)
	45	33	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2448 (-13)	13 (+5)
	46	43	Korbut, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2448 (0)	0 (0)
	47	27	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	g	SCO	2447 (-23)	10 (+1)
	48	45	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2445 (0)	0 (0)
	49	44	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2444 (-3)	13 (+13)
	50	46	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2444 (0)	0 (-2)
	51	48	Huang, Qian	wg	CHN	2439 (0)	0 (-3)
	52	54	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2438 (+10)	9 (+5)
	53	56	Moser, Eva	m	AUT	2437 (+13)	7 (-1)
	54	50	Zhang, Xiaowen	wg	CHN	2437 (0)	0 (-24)
	55	61	Cori T., Deysi	wm	PER	2434 (+22)	27 (-6)
	56	59	Khurtsidze, Nino	m	GEO	2434 (+20)	13 (0)
	57	51	Repkova, Eva	m	SVK	2434 (0)	0 (0)
	58	47	Foisor, Cristina-Adela	m	ROU	2433 (-7)	9 (-1)
	59	55	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	wg	MGL	2428 (+1)	9 (-6)
	60	57	Li, Ruofan	m	SIN	2423 (0)	0 (0)
	61	58	Ovod, Evgenija	m	RUS	2421 (+6)	24 (+24)
	62	49	Khukhashvili, Sopiko	m	GEO	2421 (-17)	16 (+9)
	63	60	Vasilevich, Tatjana	m	UKR	2414 (0)	0 (0)
	64	62	Peptan, Corina-Isabela	m	ROU	2411 (0)	0 (-7)
	65	52	Romanko, Marina	m	RUS	2409 (-24)	27 (+21)
	66	64	Matnadze, Ana	m	GEO	2406 (-1)	9 (0)
	67	74	Zawadzka, Jolanta	wg	POL	2404 (+13)	8 (-11)
	68	67	Jackova, Jana	m	CZE	2403 (0)	0 (-16)
	69	68	Tsereteli, Tamar	wg	GEO	2402 (-1)	12 (+3)
	70	70	Peng, Zhaoqin	g	NED	2401 (-1)	19 (+10)
	71	72	Stockova, Zuzana	m	SVK	2401 (0)	0 (0)
	72	73	Tania, Sachdev	m	IND	2393 (-5)	26 (+15)
	73	71	Houska, Jovanka	m	ENG	2392 (-9)	19 (+1)
	74	63	Savina, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2391 (-16)	27 (+7)
	75	66	Milliet, Sophie	m	FRA	2391 (-13)	21 (+8)
	76	75	Zaiatz, Elena	m	RUS	2391 (0)	8 (+4)
	77	76	Alexandrova, Olga	m	ESP	2391 (0)	0 (0)
	78	69	Zdebskaja, Natalia	wg	UKR	2390 (-12)	17 (+1)
	79	80	Maric, Alisa	m	SRB	2387 (0)	0 (-9)
	80	81	Turova, Irina	m	RUS	2386 (0)	0 (-8)
	81	91	Lomineishvili, Maia	m	GEO	2385 (+14)	12 (+12)
	82	84	Kovanova, Baira	wg	RUS	2385 (+1)	9 (+7)
	83	82	Madl, Ildiko	m	HUN	2385 (0)	0 (-7)
	84	90	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2384 (+12)	27 (+25)
	85	83	Bojkovic, Natasa	m	SRB	2384 (0)	0 (-9)
	86	86	Pokorna, Regina	wg	SVK	2382 (0)	0 (0)
	87	85	Shadrina, Tatiana	wg	RUS	2382 (0)	0 (-9)
	88	87	Galojan, Lilit	wg	ARM	2380 (+6)	9 (+1)
	89	78	Stepovaia, Tatiana	wg	RUS	2375 (-14)	8 (0)
	90	77	Matveeva, Svetlana	m	RUS	2373 (-18)	9 (+9)
	91	93	Michna, Marta	wg	GER	2373 (+3)	7 (-1)
	92	92	Gara, Anita	m	HUN	2370 (0)	0 (-17)
	93	79	Molchanova, Tatjana	wm	RUS	2369 (-19)	16 (+8)
	94	94	Vajda, Szidonia	m	HUN	2369 (0)	0 (-17)
	95	65	Karavade, Eesha	wg	IND	2366 (-39)	25 (+14)
	96	96	Goletiani, Rusudan	m	USA	2366 (0)	0 (0)
	97	89	Majdan, Joanna	wg	POL	2364 (-10)	8 (+1)
	98	-	Lanchava, Tea	m	NED	2364 (+)	2 (+)
	99	97	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2362 (-3)	9 (-14)
	100	98	Gaprindashvili, Nona	g	GEO	2360 (0)	0 (-9)

FIDE MARCH 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 20 JUNIORS

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2813	13	1990
2	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2727	9	1990
3	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2725	13	1990
4	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2689	35	1991
5	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2680	22	1992
6	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2665	22	1993
7	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2656	18	1990
8	Andreikin, Dmitry	g	RUS	2645	9	1990
9	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	g	VIE	2642	16	1990
10	Negi, Parimarjan	g	IND	2634	28	1993
11	Kuzubov, Yuriy	g	UKR	2634	0	1990
12	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2624	23	1994
13	Edouard, Romain	g	FRA	2617	28	1990
14	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	g	NOR	2617	18	1990
15	Khairullin, Ildar	g	RUS	2617	9	1990
16	Howell, David W L	g	ENG	2612	22	1990
17	Kovalyov, Anton	g	ARG	2610	9	1992
18	Saric, Ivan	g	CRO	2607	11	1990
19	Safarli, Eltaj	g	AZE	2606	27	1992
20	Sjugirov, Sanan	g	RUS	2602	27	1993

FIDE MARCH 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 20 GIRLS

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2570	18	1994
2	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2533	13	1990
3	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2500	9	1991
4	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2473	24	1991
5	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464	0	1991
6	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455	0	1991
7	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2444	13	1992
8	Cori T., Deysi	wm	PER	2434	27	1993
9	Savina, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2391	27	1992
10	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2384	27	1992
11	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2362	9	1991
12	Severiukhina, Zoja	wm	RUS	2355	18	1990
13	Pustovoitova, Daria		RUS	2350	18	1994
14	Muminova, Nafisa	wm	UZB	2338	22	1990
15	Kashlinskaya, Alina	wg	RUS	2332	18	1993
16	Tsatsalashvili, Keti	wm	GEO	2326	13	1992
17	Paikidze, Nazi	wm	GEO	2322	9	1993
18	Padmini, Rout	wm	IND	2319	26	1994
19	Ding, Yixin	wf	CHN	2315	0	1991
20	Rakic, Marija	wm	SRB	2306	0	1990