Reports | February 29, 2012 17:39

March FIDE ratings: Caruana enters the top 10

March FIDE ratings: Caruana enters the top 10

For the first time in his career, Fabiano Caruana (Italy) entered the world's top 10. On the March 1 FIDE rating list, the 19-year-old Italian grandmaster occupies the 7th spot with a 2767 rating. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) re-entered the top 10 and is 6th, with 2771. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) still tops the list with a rating of 2835.

Levon Aronian's victory at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee meant a rating gain of 15 points, and now the Armenian is the clear number 2. He needs another 15 points to close the gap with Magnus Carlsen. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Vishy Anand (India) didn't play rated games and stayed number 3 and 4 on the list. Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) is still 5th, but now just 15 points below Anand. Hikaru Nakamura is back in the top 10, while Fabiano Caruana entered for the first time after a gain of 31 (!) points in Reggio Emilia, Wijk aan Zee and Moscow.

Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since April 2001. Ironically, Boris Gelfand (Israel), who plays for the world title in nine weeks from now (and probably won't play rated games before that) dropped out of the top 20 for the first time since... we can't remember when.

Boris Grachev (Russia) is now a 2700 players, and so is Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) again. On this list there there are 46 2700, players which makes this figure much less magical than a decade ago!

Judit Polgar (Hungary) still leads the women's list with a big margin, but Hou Yifan (China) is getting closer. The World Champion won no less than 34 points and is now "only" 70 points behind the Hungarian. (On the previous list the difference was still 105 points.) Humpy Koneru (India) and Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) are still 3rd and 4th. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) won 24 points and is now the world's 5th female player.

Below you'll find the new top 100, the top 100 women, the top 20 juniors and the top 20 girls. We give all lists including the changes with the previous lists.

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


FIDE MARCH 2012 RATING LIST: TOP 100 PLAYERS

Rank Old Name Title Country Rating Games
  1 1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2835 (0) 13 (-4)
  2 2 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2820 (+15) 13 (-12)
  3 3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2801 (0) 0 (-17)
  4 4 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2799 (0) 0 (-17)
  5 5 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2784 (+11) 13 (+4)
6 12 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2771 (+12) 23 (+6)
7 17 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2767 (+31) 32 (+13)
8 7 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2766 (-3) 13 (-3)
  9 9 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2765 (+2) 10 (+4)
10 8 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2764 (-2) 23 (+7)
  11 11 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2761 (0) 0 (-8)
12 6 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2752 (-18) 13 (+4)
  13 14 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2752 (+5) 10 (+1)
14 10 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2745 (-16) 13 (+4)
15 13 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2744 (-5) 10 (-7)
16 20 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2741 (+9) 13 (+13)
17 15 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2736 (-4) 9 (+9)
18 25 Adams, Michael g ENG 2735 (+11) 10 (-7)
  19 19 Wang, Hao g CHN 2733 (0) 0 (-6)
  20 21 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2730 (0) 0 (-6)
  21 22 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2729 (0) 0 (0)
22 16 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2727 (-12) 13 (+4)
  23 23 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2727 (0) 0 (-13)
24 26 Leko, Peter g HUN 2720 (0) 0 (-9)
25 27 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2719 (+2) 10 (+2)
26 18 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2718 (-17) 9 (-7)
  27 28 Giri, Anish g NED 2717 (+3) 23 (+8)
28 33 Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2710 (0) 0 (0)
29 32 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2709 (-1) 10 (+10)
30 24 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2709 (-17) 10 (+9)
31 38 Jobava, Baadur g GEO 2706 (+2) 9 (-14)
32 39 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2706 (+2) 8 (-6)
33 35 Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2706 (0) 0 (-7)
  34 34 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2706 (0) 0 (-8)
35 52 Grachev, Boris g RUS 2705 (+12) 14 (+14)
  36 37 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2705 (0) 0 (0)
37 57 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2704 (+14) 9 (-1)
38 44 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2703 (+3) 19 (+10)
39 51 Li, Chao b g CHN 2703 (+10) 16 (+10)
  40 40 Laznicka, Viktor g CZE 2702 (-2) 10 (+2)
41 43 Movsesian, Sergei g ARM 2702 (+2) 10 (+1)
42 49 Wang, Yue g CHN 2702 (+8) 9 (+3)
43 42 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2702 (0) 0 (-14)
44 31 Shirov, Alexei g LAT 2701 (-9) 10 (-3)
45 30 Navara, David g CZE 2700 (-12) 13 (+5)
46 41 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2700 (-3) 9 (+1)
47 29 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2698 (-16) 19 (+19)
48 46 Dreev, Aleksey g RUS 2698 (0) 0 (-6)
49 71 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2697 (+20) 10 (-5)
50 59 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2695 (+6) 9 (+3)
51 47 Efimenko, Zahar g UKR 2695 (0) 0 (-8)
52 48 Volokitin, Andrei g UKR 2695 (0) 0 (0)
53 55 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro g CUB 2694 (+3) 13 (-6)
54 36 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2693 (-12) 16 (+1)
55 50 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2693 (0) 0 (-17)
56 53 Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2693 (0) 0 (0)
57 54 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2691 (-1) 15 (+2)
58 56 McShane, Luke J g ENG 2691 (0) 0 (-8)
59 61 Andreikin, Dmitry g RUS 2689 (+1) 18 (+18)
60 58 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2689 (0) 0 (-14)
  61 62 Areshchenko, Alexander g UKR 2688 (0) 0 (0)
62 68 Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2687 (+7) 10 (-5)
  63 63 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2686 (0) 0 (0)
  64 64 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2684 (-1) 9 (+1)
65 72 Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2683 (+6) 13 (+7)
66 60 Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2683 (-5) 9 (+1)
67 45 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2682 (-17) 10 (-3)
68 67 Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2682 (0) 0 (-16)
69 89 Korobov, Anton g UKR 2679 (+19) 9 (+9)
70 69 Bauer, Christian g FRA 2679 (0) 0 (-24)
71 82 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2678 (+13) 13 (+7)
72 66 Sargissian, Gabriel g ARM 2674 (-9) 10 (-5)
73 70 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2673 (-4) 34 (+12)
74 78 Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2673 (+3) 16 (+16)
75 92 Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2671 (+13) 27 (+10)
76 73 Gharamian, Tigran g FRA 2671 (-5) 9 (+9)
77 76 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2670 (0) 0 (-13)
78 65 Potkin, Vladimir g RUS 2669 (-15) 13 (+13)
79 77 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2668 (-2) 18 (+12)
80 79 Azarov, Sergei g BLR 2667 (0) 0 (0)
81 74 Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2666 (-7) 9 (+9)
82 80 Kryvoruchko, Yuriy g UKR 2666 (0) 0 (0)
83 93 Bartel, Mateusz g POL 2665 (+7) 32 (+23)
84 81 Balogh, Csaba g HUN 2664 (-1) 9 (+1)
85 90 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2664 (+5) 9 (-9)
86 101 Postny, Evgeny g ISR 2662 (+10) 9 (+1)
87 84 Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son g VIE 2662 (0) 0 (-6)
88 87 Ding, Liren g CHN 2660 (0) 0 (-6)
89 - Turov, Maxim g RUS 2658 (+) 27 (+)
90 - Kurnosov, Igor g RUS 2657 (+) 16 (+)
91 86 Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2657 (-3) 8 (+1)
92 83 Khismatullin, Denis g RUS 2656 (-8) 18 (+10)
93 - Lysyj, Igor g RUS 2656 (+) 9 (+)
94 - Gareev, Timur g UZB 2654 (+) 11 (+)
  95 96 Ragger, Markus g AUT 2654 (-1) 9 (-8)
96 85 Fridman, Daniel g GER 2653 (-7) 19 (+8)
97 - Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2653 (+) 14 (+)
  98 99 Milov, Vadim g SUI 2653 (0) 0 (0)
99 98 So, Wesley g PHI 2653 (0) 0 (-5)
100 - Rodshtein, Maxim g ISR 2652 (+) 9 (+)
101 103 Gyimesi, Zoltan g HUN 2652 (0) 0 (-4)
102 104 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2652 (0) 0 (-2)
103 102 Roiz, Michael g ISR 2652 (0) 0 (-6)

FIDE MARCH 2012 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

Rank Old Name Title Country Rating Games
  1 1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2709 (-1) 10 (+10)
  2 2 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2639 (+34) 10 (-10)
  3 3 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2589 (0) 10 (-6)
  4 4 Muzychuk, Anna m SLO 2583 (+3) 10 (+1)
5 9 Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2559 (+24) 15 (-1)
  6 6 Ju, Wenjun wg CHN 2557 (+5) 9 (-6)
7 5 Lahno, Kateryna g UKR 2546 (-11) 13 (+6)
8 7 Zhao, Xue g CHN 2543 (-8) 9 (-6)
9 8 Kosintseva, Nadezhda g RUS 2535 (-2) 10 (-7)
  10 10 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2531 (+8) 10 (+3)
  11 12 Kosintseva, Tatiana g RUS 2513 (0) 0 (-16)
  12 13 Sebag, Marie g FRA 2512 (0) 0 (0)
13 15 Zatonskih, Anna m USA 2511 (+5) 11 (+11)
  14 14 Gunina, Valentina m RUS 2511 (+1) 9 (-6)
15 11 Harika, Dronavalli g IND 2501 (-15) 22 (+14)
  16 17 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2500 (0) 0 (0)
17 16 Cmilyte, Viktorija g LTU 2497 (-6) 13 (+13)
  18 18 Socko, Monika g POL 2493 (-6) 9 (-11)
19 26 Zhu, Chen g QAT 2491 (+19) 10 (+3)
20 23 Muzychuk, Mariya m UKR 2490 (+7) 10 (-14)
  21 22 Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2490 (0) 0 (0)
22 21 Khotenashvili, Bela m GEO 2490 (0) 0 (-9)
  23 24 Ruan, Lufei wg CHN 2483 (0) 0 (0)
24 19 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2481 (-10) 19 (+13)
25 20 Danielian, Elina g ARM 2478 (-12) 14 (-9)
26 25 Atalik, Ekaterina m TUR 2474 (-7) 17 (+17)
  27 27 Skripchenko, Almira m FRA 2468 (0) 0 (0)
  28 29 Xu, Yuhua g CHN 2465 (0) 0 (-1)
29 28 Krush, Irina m USA 2461 (-6) 16 (+1)
30 40 Moser, Eva m AUT 2460 (+14) 14 (+6)
31 30 Dembo, Yelena m GRE 2460 (0) 0 (-17)
32 34 Paehtz, Elisabeth m GER 2459 (+5) 13 (+6)
33 31 Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2458 (0) 0 (-18)
34 32 Ushenina, Anna m UKR 2458 (0) 0 (-14)
  35 35 Munguntuul, Batkhuyag m MGL 2451 (-1) 18 (+9)
  36 36 Pogonina, Natalija wg RUS 2449 (0) 0 (-18)
37 33 Javakhishvili, Lela m GEO 2448 (-6) 16 (+1)
38 37 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2448 (0) 0 (-14)
39 42 Khurtsidze, Nino m GEO 2447 (+3) 10 (-5)
40 38 Matnadze, Ana m GEO 2447 (0) 0 (-9)
  41 41 Zaiatz, Elena m RUS 2446 (0) 0 (0)
42 39 Shen, Yang wg CHN 2440 (-7) 8 (+2)
  43 44 Hoang, Thanh Trang g HUN 2438 (+3) 22 (+14)
44 49 Batsiashvili, Nino wg GEO 2438 (+12) 9 (0)
45 43 Tan, Zhongyi wg CHN 2438 (0) 0 (-15)
46 48 Zhukova, Natalia g UKR 2435 (+9) 10 (-5)
47 46 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan g SCO 2434 (0) 0 (-6)
48 47 Rajlich, Iweta m POL 2422 (-6) 9 (+9)
  49 50 Peptan, Corina-Isabela m ROU 2420 (-5) 9 (+9)
50 45 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina m RUS 2419 (-16) 9 (+9)
  51 51 Alexandrova, Olga m ESP 2419 (0) 0 (-8)
  52 53 Li, Ruofan m SIN 2419 (0) 0 (0)
53 73 Romanko, Marina m RUS 2417 (+28) 18 (+11)
  54 54 Gaponenko, Inna m UKR 2416 (0) 0 (-13)
  55 55 Repkova, Eva m SVK 2416 (0) 0 (0)
56 60 Tania, Sachdev m IND 2414 (+3) 13 (-15)
57 52 Bodnaruk, Anastasia m RUS 2412 (-7) 9 (+3)
58 63 Turova, Irina m RUS 2410 (0) 0 (0)
59 62 Vasilevich, Tatjana m UKR 2410 (0) 0 (-7)
60 59 Ovod, Evgenija m RUS 2408 (-4) 9 (+9)
61 64 Khukhashvili, Sopiko m GEO 2408 (0) 8 (-1)
62 61 Paikidze, Nazi wg GEO 2406 (-5) 18 (+13)
63 67 Girya, Olga wg RUS 2406 (+7) 9 (+9)
  64 65 Peng, Zhaoqin g NED 2405 (-1) 2 (-15)
65 68 Melia, Salome m GEO 2400 (+2) 10 (-2)
66 74 Huang, Qian wg CHN 2399 (+10) 18 (+12)
67 70 Foisor, Cristina-Adela m ROU 2398 (+3) 9 (-10)
  68 69 Wang, Pin wg CHN 2397 (0) 0 (0)
69 58 Houska, Jovanka m ENG 2396 (-18) 19 (+2)
70 79 Guramishvili, Sopiko wg GEO 2395 (+11) 10 (-9)
  71 71 Bojkovic, Natasa m SRB 2395 (0) 0 (-9)
72 83 Kovanova, Baira wg RUS 2392 (+9) 9 (+9)
73 75 Zdebskaja, Natalia wg UKR 2389 (0) 0 (0)
74 80 Ohme, Melanie wm GER 2387 (+3) 9 (+1)
75 77 Majdan-Gajewska, Joanna wg POL 2387 (0) 0 (-7)
76 56 Cori T., Deysi wg PER 2386 (-29) 18 (0)
  77 78 Madl, Ildiko m HUN 2386 (0) 0 (-7)
78 66 Milliet, Sophie m FRA 2385 (-19) 29 (+14)
79 82 Michna, Marta wg GER 2383 (0) 0 (-9)
80 84 Tsereteli, Tamar wg GEO 2383 (0) 0 (0)
81 85 Fierro Baquero, Martha L. m ECU 2380 (0) 0 (0)
82 86 Vasilevich, Irina m RUS 2380 (0) 0 (0)
83 72 Kashlinskaya, Alina wg RUS 2377 (-12) 9 (0)
84 90 Matveeva, Svetlana m RUS 2377 (0) 0 (0)
85 57 Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman m IND 2376 (-39) 18 (+18)
86 92 Kononenko, Tatiana m UKR 2375 (0) 0 (0)
87 102 L'Ami, Alina wg ROU 2372 (+12) 19 (+10)
88 93 Wang, Yu A. m CHN 2372 (+1) 0 (-1)
89 - Charochkina, Daria wg RUS 2371 (+) 9 (+)
90 89 Gomes, Mary Ann wg IND 2369 (-8) 20 (+9)
91 88 Szczepkowska-Horowska, Karina wg POL 2369 (-8) 16 (+3)
92 95 Pokorna, Regina wg SVK 2367 (0) 0 (-9)
93 96 Vajda, Szidonia m HUN 2367 (0) 0 (0)
94 76 Wang, Jue   CHN 2366 (-22) 18 (+13)
95 91 Linares Napoles, Oleiny wg CUB 2366 (-9) 9 (+1)
96 - Gara, Ticia wg HUN 2366 (+) 5 (+)
  97 98 Lomineishvili, Maia m GEO 2366 (0) 0 (0)
98 97 Galojan, Lilit m ARM 2364 (-2) 9 (-7)
99 94 Lujan, Carolina m ARG 2364 (-5) 6 (-3)
100 - Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs wg MGL 2363 (+) 9 (+)

FIDE MARCH 2012 RATING LIST: TOP 20 JUNIORS

Rank Old Name Title Country Rating Games
  1 1 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2767 (+31) 32 (+13)
  2 2 Giri, Anish g NED 2717 (+3) 23 (+8)
  3 3 Ding, Liren g CHN 2660 (0) 0 (-6)
  4 4 So, Wesley g PHI 2653 (0) 0 (-5)
  5 6 Safarli, Eltaj g AZE 2645 (+7) 9 (+5)
6 12 Zherebukh, Yaroslav g UKR 2642 (+48) 27 (+27)
7 5 Negi, Parimarjan g IND 2639 (-2) 19 (+4)
8 10 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2639 (+34) 10 (-10)
  9 9 Kovalyov, Anton g ARG 2619 (0) 0 (0)
10 7 Yu, Yangyi g CHN 2615 (-16) 9 (+3)
11 8 Sjugirov, Sanan g RUS 2610 (-12) 18 (+18)
12 11 Robson, Ray g USA 2606 (+10) 18 (+13)
13 19 Shimanov, Aleksandr g RUS 2591 (+42) 27 (+27)
14 16 Nyzhnyk, Illya g UKR 2585 (+17) 13 (+4)
  15 15 Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel g ARM 2578 (+9) 10 (+1)
  16 17 Van Kampen, Robin g NED 2568 (+2) 2 (-7)
17 14 Swiercz, Dariusz g POL 2565 (-18) 9 (0)
  18 18 Adhiban, B. g IND 2561 (0) 22 (+4)
19 13 Ipatov, Alexander g TUR 2561 (-25) 18 (+18)
20 - Rapport, Richard g HUN 2559 (+) 19 (+)

FIDE MARCH 2012 RATING LIST: TOP 20 GIRLS

Rank Old Name Title Country Rating Games
  1 1 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2639 (+34) 10 (-10)
  2 2 Muzychuk, Mariya m UKR 2490 (+7) 10 (-14)
  3 3 Bodnaruk, Anastasia m RUS 2412 (-7) 9 (+3)
  4 5 Paikidze, Nazi wg GEO 2406 (-5) 18 (+13)
5 4 Cori T., Deysi wg PER 2386 (-29) 18 (0)
  6 6 Kashlinskaya, Alina wg RUS 2377 (-12) 9 (0)
  7 7 Wang, Jue   CHN 2366 (-22) 18 (+13)
8 10 Vojinovic, Jovana wg MNE 2356 (-3) 10 (+1)
9 12 Guo, Qi wg CHN 2351 (0) 0 (-6)
10 15 Sukandar, Irine Kharisma wg INA 2349 (+24) 9 (-5)
11 8 Padmini, Rout wg IND 2345 (-38) 37 (+20)
12 19 Ziaziulkina, Nastassia wm BLR 2343 (+53) 18 (+9)
  13 14 Goryachkina, Aleksandra wm RUS 2341 (+8) 18 (+9)
14 11 Arabidze, Meri wm GEO 2337 (-21) 9 (0)
15 13 Savina, Anastasia m RUS 2325 (-12) 9 (0)
16 - Havlikova, Kristyna wm CZE 2312 (+) 7 (+)
17 16 Pustovoitova, Daria f RUS 2308 (+5) 9 (+9)
18 9 Bulmaga, Irina wm ROU 2307 (-53) 18 (+9)
19 - Papp, Petra wm HUN 2296 (+) 9 (+)
  20 20 Schut, Lisa wm NED 2294 (+4) 13 (+8)
21 17 Soloviova, Liza wg UKR 2294 (0) 0 (0)

All data courtesy of FIDE

Tags:

Share |
Peter Doggers's picture
Author: Peter Doggers

Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.

Chess Master School

Comments

arkan's picture

arkan

1 year 2 months ago

I really don't want to troll, but the WC is now between 2 sub-2800 players, number 4 and numer 22 - it really is time to change that WC title setup

AWT's picture

AWT

1 year 2 months ago

The system has been changed. It is now a candidates tournament in London at the end of the year.

anonymous's picture

anonymous

1 year 2 months ago

What solution do you propose? Anand is lower rated because of lackluster results in tournaments but he is still probably a hell of a match player. A WC match gets sponsors to cough up millions - tournaments don't.

Thomas's picture

Thomas

1 year 2 months ago

Would it be acceptable if Anand's rating was 2801 rather than 2799?

Anyway, regarding "change that WC title setup" ... . It is possible to change the format of the candidates event (which actually happened), there is still a risk that 'the wrong person' wins: what if Ivanchuk wins the candidates event and then loses a few dozen rating points? Both - winning one strong event and doing badly in the next one - happened before.
It should be impossible to disqualify the defending champion or his legitimate challenger - legitimate in the sense that Gelfand qualified for his match against Anand.

redivivo's picture

redivivo

1 year 2 months ago

"there is still a risk that 'the wrong person' wins"

This argument has been used before to support sticking to the knockouts. When Kasim, Khalif and Gelfand won it was said that "the wrong person" could have won anyway. But it isn't as much about the "wrong person winning" as it is about a serious format being more meaningful. And the winner of the Candidates tournaments have always been much, much stronger than Kasim, Khalif and Gelfand.

"It should be impossible to disqualify the defending champion or his legitimate challenger"

Of course, what happened to Shirov should never happen again.

Thomas's picture

Thomas

1 year 2 months ago

I replied to arkan who pointed out the ratings of (both) Anand and Gelfand to conclude that "it really is time to change that WC title setup". I pointed out before that Gelfand did very well in Mexico 2007 which had a "serious format" - indeed, exactly the same as the forthcoming candidates event. Futile to discuss whether he was stronger back then than he is now - fact is that he was a surprise qualifier and an underdog in the tournament.

"what happened to Shirov should never happen again"
I agree, but many people (you included) seem to use the same arguments against Gelfand which were used against Shirov, something like "he isn't a worthy challenger, the match won't attract sponsors". The difference is that, after all, now there is a sponsor, and maybe also that Anand didn't act like Kasparov did (I would blame Kasparov more than Kramnik for the fact that Shirov was deprived of a WCh match).

redivivo's picture

redivivo

1 year 2 months ago

"I agree, but many people (you included) seem to use the same arguments against Gelfand which were used against Shirov"

I have no arguments against Gelfand other than that I think the qualification system should be serious enough to avoid that players his (and Kasim's and Khalif's) level play title matches. With knockouts you get such winners, but once they have won they should still be "legitimate". Shirov won a "long" Candidates match against Kramnik in 1998 and was #4 year 2000, so he was a much stronger player than Gelfand is in 2012. But that's another thing and good luck to Gelfand! :-)

Anonymous 's picture

Anonymous

1 year 2 months ago

"I have no arguments against Gelfand other than that I think the qualification system should be serious enough to avoid that players his (and Kasim's and Khalif's) level play title matches."

Nonsense. Who are you to qualify or disqualify Gelfand? The big names except Carlsen participated in the qualifier, Gelfand won (after 20 years of hard work) with two out of the three decisive games and got a shot at the title. Most top GMs (including the qualifier participants) consider him a qualified candidate, yet we have to listen to your babble.

voyteck's picture

voyteck

1 year 2 months ago

I think there is a substantial difference if a statistically weaker player wins a serious candidates cycle or a silly one. No matter how good Gelfand really turned out to be in the latest one - the thing is you can't tell. You can't sell it with a clear conscience as a "heroic effort of a veteran grandmaster, who found his prime in his forties, having brilliantly beaten all those young, hungry beasts of the computer age".

iLane's picture

iLane

1 year 2 months ago

I guess Topalov is Bulgarian, NOT Hungarian. LOL. :)

Anonymous's picture

Anonymous

1 year 2 months ago

"Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) is still 5th, but now just 15 points below Kramnik."

Anand, not Kramnik.

KVB's picture

KVB

1 year 2 months ago

lol

Juan Castillo's picture

Juan Castillo

1 year 2 months ago

Caruana has 32 rated games in January-February (of course only 27 games were actually played on 2012 because the first half of Reggio Emilia).

It probably doesn't sound impressive at all the fact that he didn't win any of the 3 tournament played, curiously he finished 4th (after tiebreaks) in all of them. However, if we inspect the results we can see they were mere elite results.

a) In Reggio Emilia he finished +1 score after a 0.5/5 start.
b) In TataSteel he shared 2nd togheter with Carlsen and Radjabov with 8/13.
c) In Aeroflot, scored 6/9 in a 88 players tournament including 7 2700+ players (none of the rest 2700+ scored more than 5.5).

nathan's picture

nathan

1 year 2 months ago

Compare with Anish Giri, who had massive highs and lows. He won Reggio Emilia, but finished last in Tata. To wipe out all the points he had gained.
I see Le has dropped out of 2700 bracket after a disastrous Aeroflot.

S3's picture

S3

1 year 2 months ago

Comparing with Giri, I think Giri's played more "outstanding" games. Games that leave an impression. Right now Caruana is ahead on the list but I don't think it means a lot.

JayJay's picture

JayJay

1 year 2 months ago

"now the world's 5th female player."

Poor us. Only 5 girls around? :)

Ashish's picture

Ashish

1 year 2 months ago

Two US citizens in the top 10! When did we last see that?

Pulern's picture

Pulern

1 year 2 months ago

"On this list there there are 46 2700, players which makes this figure much less magical than a decade ago!"
-What was the figure a decade ago?

Thomas's picture

Thomas

1 year 2 months ago

A decade ago (April 2002) there were 13 players rated 2700 or higher. Trivia continued: that list had two 2800ers (Kasparov and Kramnik) quite far ahead of #3 (Anand, 2752) - also putting claims about Carlsen's huge(!?) lead into perspective!? And #14 was ... Khalifman with Elo 2698, so he wasn't quite as weak as some people seem to suggest (just didn't stay in the top20 for very long).

Sander's picture

Sander

1 year 2 months ago

If Hou Yifan keeps this up she'll be on 4 lists instead of 3.

bryan's picture

bryan

1 year 2 months ago

Glad to see Caruana enter top 10. I remember not so long ago he seemed so arrogant, but he seems to have gotten over that now and humbled down a bit and now doing well! I definitely want to see more of Hou Yifan! Can't wait to see her surpass Judit Polgar! :D And before I forget, nice to see Topalov fall out of the Top 10! hahaha

b3wins's picture

b3wins

1 year 2 months ago

For the record: the last time Gelfand was not among the top 20 on the rating list: July 1989.

Your comment

By posting a comment you are agreeing to abide our Terms & Conditions

Latest articles