Last month he turned 19, and today Magnus Carlsen officialy became the official world's number one player. On the January 1st FIDE rating list the Norwegian as a rating of 2810, 5 points more than Veselin Topalov, who had occupied the number 1 spot since October 2008.

After winning the London Chess Classic with three wins and four draws it was a fact: Magnus Carlsen would become the youngest world's number one in chess history. Thanks to the "live list" by Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website) everyone could already see how the top rankings would look like, and today this became official due to FIDE's publication of the January list.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand won 2 points and is still in third place; after the Tal Memorial and London Vladimir Kramnik surpassed Levon Aronian to become 4th. Vassily Ivanchuk is back in the top 10, and Wang Yue entered for the first time - the Chinese GM is now the world's 9th player. After a successful period, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is 11th now. Leko and Morozevich dropped out of the top 10.

Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave, just two months older than Carlsen, has now entered the top 20 while another former prodigy, Sergei Karjakin, dropped out - but let's not forget he'll be defending his Corus title soon. Vladimir Malakhov's successful period resulted in a rise from spot 31 to 22. Without getting too much attention, Zoltan Almasi and David Navara occupy the excellent spots 26 and 27.

A disappointing London Chess Classic cost Nigel Short his 2700+ rating but he's still just England's best player at 2696; Michael Adams is now one spot below him at 2694. 17-year-old Fabiano Caruana did well again and climbed no less than 30 places; from spot 81 to 51. Another young player did even better: 18-year-old Sergei Zhigalko went from 93 to 58. New in the top 100 compared to the previous list are Ian Nepomniachtchi (69th), Wesley So (77th), Viktor Laznicka (84th), Le Quang Liem (93rd) Tomi Nyback (97th) and Evgeny Bareev (98th).

In the women's list again the top 3 didn't change; the difference between Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru is now 68 points. Nadezhda Kosintseva climbed from 9th to 5th while Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lahno are back into the top 10. Nana Dzagnidze dropped out from 4th place all the way to 14th.

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 JANUARY 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	2	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2810 (+9)	16 (+6)
	2	1	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2805 (-5)	4 (-6)
	3	3	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2790 (+2)	9 (+9)
	4	5	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788 (+16)	16 (+16)
	5	4	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2781 (-5)	17 (+4)
	6	7	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2761 (+3)	25 (+14)
	7	6	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2759 (+1)	21 (+10)
	8	12	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2749 (+10)	13 (0)
	9	16	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2749 (+15)	8 (-19)
	10	8	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2744 (-10)	27 (+10)
	11	19	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2741 (+22)	19 (-6)
	12	9	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2739 (-13)	9 (-1)
	13	13	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2737 (-2)	25 (+20)
	14	17	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2736 (+7)	14 (-1)
	15	14	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2736 (0)	8 (-5)
	16	11	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2733 (-15)	13 (+3)
	17	10	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2732 (-18)	19 (+19)
	18	23	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2730 (+12)	21 (+21)
	19	15	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2730 (-6)	17 (+7)
	20	20	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2723 (+4)	19 (+1)
	21	18	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2720 (-3)	12 (0)
	22	31	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	2716 (+10)	15 (-11)
	23	28	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2715 (+7)	10 (-3)
	24	34	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2713 (+13)	18 (-9)
	25	21	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2712 (-7)	4 (+4)
	26	33	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	2710 (+6)	7 (-8)
	27	30	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708 (+1)	15 (+6)
	28	24	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2708 (-7)	7 (-10)
	29	22	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2708 (-10)	2 (-14)
	30	27	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2705 (-3)	14 (-7)
	31	26	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2705 (-6)	10 (-10)
	32	39	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	2704 (+8)	15 (+15)
	33	25	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2703 (-12)	13 (+6)
	34	32	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2702 (-3)	2 (-3)
	35	40	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	2697 (+2)	6 (-17)
	36	37	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	2697 (0)	4 (-13)
	37	38	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	2697 (0)	0 (-10)
	38	29	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2696 (-11)	7 (-9)
	39	36	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2694 (-4)	17 (+5)
	40	41	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2693 (-2)	6 (-10)
	41	42	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2692 (-2)	8 (-16)
	42	44	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	2692 (+1)	8 (-8)
	43	43	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	2692 (0)	6 (-18)
	44	45	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	2687 (-2)	13 (-13)
	45	46	Miroshnichenko, Evgenij	g	UKR	2686 (0)	0 (-26)
	46	48	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (+2)	4 (-2)
	47	50	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	2681 (+4)	12 (-2)
	48	51	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	2680 (+4)	12 (-4)
	49	35	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2678 (-22)	10 (+3)
	50	49	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2677 (0)	0 (-17)
	51	81	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2675 (+23)	18 (-3)
	52	47	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2673 (-9)	6 (-16)
	53	54	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	2672 (0)	0 (-13)
	54	53	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	2672 (0)	0 (-16)
	55	78	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2670 (+17)	12 (-2)
	56	62	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2670 (+6)	6 (-10)
	57	52	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2670 (-2)	4 (-14)
	58	93	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2668 (+22)	13 (+13)
	59	65	Smirin, Ilia	g	ISR	2668 (+6)	11 (-5)
	60	58	Kurnosov, Igor	g	RUS	2668 (+2)	10 (-10)
	61	59	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	2665 (-1)	4 (-13)
	62	61	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2662 (-2)	2 (-32)
	63	67	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2661 (0)	0 (-16)
	64	91	Vescovi, Giovanni	g	BRA	2660 (+12)	20 (+1)
	65	55	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	2660 (-11)	15 (+10)
	66	66	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	2659 (-2)	9 (-12)
	67	70	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2659 (+3)	4 (-7)
	68	79	Meier, Georg	g	GER	2658 (+5)	12 (+2)
	69	-	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2658 (+)	10 (+)
	70	92	Beliavsky, Alexander G	g	SLO	2657 (+9)	18 (+1)
	71	56	Efimenko, Zahar	g	UKR	2657 (-11)	10 (-14)
	72	60	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2657 (-8)	10 (-25)
	73	88	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2657 (+7)	10 (-7)
	74	57	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	2657 (-9)	9 (-17)
	75	68	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	2657 (-2)	8 (+5)
	76	74	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	2656 (+1)	8 (+1)
	77	-	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2656 (+)	8 (+)
	78	69	Krasenkow, Michal	g	POL	2656 (0)	0 (-19)
	79	89	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	2654 (+5)	8 (-7)
	80	75	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	2654 (0)	4 (-21)
	81	73	Baklan, Vladimir	g	UKR	2654 (-1)	2 (-30)
	82	80	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	2653 (+1)	18 (-5)
	83	64	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2653 (-11)	4 (-5)
	84	-	Laznicka, Viktor	g	CZE	2652 (+)	16 (+)
	85	86	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2652 (+1)	4 (-18)
	86	96	Khismatullin, Denis	g	RUS	2651 (+8)	16 (0)
	87	72	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	2650 (-5)	9 (-35)
	88	84	Sokolov, Ivan	g	BIH	2649 (-3)	12 (+1)
	89	94	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2649 (+4)	6 (-15)
	90	90	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2649 (0)	2 (+1)
	91	99	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2648 (+6)	17 (+3)
	92	87	Postny, Evgeny	g	ISR	2648 (-2)	7 (-19)
	93	-	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2647 (+)	20 (+)
	94	71	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	2647 (-9)	6 (-5)
	95	63	Landa, Konstantin	g	RUS	2645 (-19)	10 (-6)
	96	85	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	2644 (-8)	6 (+1)
	97	-	Nyback, Tomi	g	FIN	2643 (+)	13 (+)
	98	-	Bareev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2643 (+)	10 (+)
	99	77	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	g	KAZ	2643 (-10)	9 (-6)
	100	97	Socko, Bartosz	g	POL	2643 (0)	8 (-7)

FIDE JANUARY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (+2)	4 (-2)
	2	2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2614 (+11)	8 (+2)
	3	3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2590 (+2)	14 (-16)
	4	5	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2545 (+4)	7 (-8)
	5	9	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2533 (+15)	9 (-12)
	6	7	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2528 (+3)	4 (-2)
	7	6	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2523 (-9)	25 (-3)
	8	11	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2523 (+6)	10 (+4)
	9	17	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2518 (+19)	16 (+10)
	10	8	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2515 (-7)	8 (-12)
	11	12	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2514 (0)	0 (-13)
	12	13	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2512 (+3)	4 (-44)
	13	10	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2510 (-8)	8 (-3)
	14	4	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2506 (-41)	19 (-1)
	15	14	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2504 (-2)	4 (-37)
	16	18	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2503 (+11)	9 (-11)
	17	15	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2501 (0)	0 (0)
	18	16	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2495 (-4)	11 (-13)
	19	21	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2493 (+11)	7 (-16)
	20	22	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2489 (+9)	9 (+1)
	21	19	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2487 (0)	0 (-6)
	22	23	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2484 (+4)	9 (+3)
	23	24	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2479 (+4)	2 (-9)
	24	20	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2478 (-5)	3 (-25)
	25	26	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2471 (+4)	11 (-4)
	26	34	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2470 (+13)	16 (-14)
	27	29	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	g	SCO	2470 (+4)	9 (-4)
	28	32	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2470 (+7)	4 (-13)
	29	30	Qin, Kanying	wg	CHN	2466 (0)	0 (0)
	30	27	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2466 (0)	0 (-16)
	31	33	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464 (+4)	3 (-22)
	32	31	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2462 (-3)	8 (-1)
	33	39	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2461 (+7)	8 (-17)
	34	25	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2457 (-11)	8 (-12)
	35	37	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2456 (0)	0 (-5)
	36	35	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2455 (-2)	13 (-7)
	37	42	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2455 (+4)	5 (-12)
	38	38	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455 (0)	0 (-7)
	39	28	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2452 (-14)	6 (-9)
	40	41	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2452 (0)	0 (0)
	41	36	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2450 (-7)	14 (0)
	42	46	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2448 (+2)	7 (-6)
	43	44	Korbut, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2448 (0)	0 (0)
	44	45	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2447 (0)	0 (-12)
	45	47	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2445 (0)	0 (0)
	46	40	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2444 (-8)	2 (-33)
	47	50	Foisor, Cristina-Adela	m	ROU	2440 (+5)	10 (-7)
	48	48	Huang, Qian	wg	CHN	2439 (-3)	3 (-23)
	49	52	Khukhashvili, Sopiko	m	GEO	2438 (+6)	7 (-8)
	50	57	Zhang, Xiaowen	wg	CHN	2437 (+15)	24 (-4)
	51	51	Repkova, Eva	m	SVK	2434 (0)	0 (-8)
	52	43	Romanko, Marina	m	RUS	2433 (-16)	6 (-5)
	53	49	Melia, Salome	m	GEO	2431 (-5)	9 (-4)
	54	55	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2428 (+1)	4 (-9)
	55	60	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	wg	MGL	2427 (+14)	15 (+1)
	56	53	Moser, Eva	m	AUT	2424 (-7)	8 (+8)
	57	56	Li, Ruofan	m	SIN	2423 (0)	0 (0)
	58	58	Ovod, Evgenija	m	RUS	2415 (0)	0 (-20)
	59	54	Khurtsidze, Nino	m	GEO	2414 (-16)	13 (-2)
	60	59	Vasilevich, Tatjana	m	UKR	2414 (0)	0 (-17)
	61	88	Cori T., Deysi	wm	PER	2412 (+38)	33 (+24)
	62	62	Peptan, Corina-Isabela	m	ROU	2411 (0)	7 (-8)
	63	67	Savina, Anastasia		RUS	2407 (+6)	20 (-7)
	64	68	Matnadze, Ana	m	GEO	2407 (+6)	9 (-1)
	65	61	Karavade, Eesha	wg	IND	2405 (-8)	11 (+2)
	66	78	Milliet, Sophie	m	FRA	2404 (+14)	13 (+5)
	67	81	Jackova, Jana	m	CZE	2403 (+15)	16 (+7)
	68	73	Tsereteli, Tamar	wg	GEO	2403 (+10)	9 (-6)
	69	64	Zdebskaja, Natalia	wg	UKR	2402 (-6)	16 (-6)
	70	65	Peng, Zhaoqin	g	NED	2402 (-6)	9 (-5)
	71	74	Houska, Jovanka	m	ENG	2401 (+10)	18 (+8)
	72	69	Stockova, Zuzana	m	SVK	2401 (0)	0 (0)
	73	70	Tania, Sachdev	m	IND	2398 (-1)	11 (+4)
	74	63	Zawadzka, Jolanta	wg	POL	2391 (-19)	19 (0)
	75	79	Zaiatz, Elena	m	RUS	2391 (+1)	4 (+4)
	76	75	Alexandrova, Olga	m	ESP	2391 (0)	0 (0)
	77	76	Matveeva, Svetlana	m	RUS	2391 (0)	0 (0)
	78	82	Stepovaia, Tatiana	wg	RUS	2389 (+5)	8 (-4)
	79	93	Molchanova, Tatjana	wm	RUS	2388 (+20)	8 (-10)
	80	72	Maric, Alisa	m	SRB	2387 (-9)	9 (+2)
	81	84	Turova, Irina	m	RUS	2386 (+2)	8 (+8)
	82	77	Madl, Ildiko	m	HUN	2385 (-5)	7 (-1)
	83	66	Bojkovic, Natasa	m	SRB	2384 (-22)	9 (-2)
	84	71	Kovanova, Baira	wg	RUS	2384 (-13)	2 (-18)
	85	87	Shadrina, Tatiana	wg	RUS	2382 (+1)	9 (-8)
	86	86	Pokorna, Regina	wg	SVK	2382 (0)	0 (-18)
	87	-	Galojan, Lilit	wg	ARM	2374 (+)	8 (+)
	88	98	Dworakowska, Joanna	m	POL	2374 (+13)	7 (0)
	89	-	Majdan, Joanna	wg	POL	2374 (+)	7 (+)
	90	90	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2372 (0)	2 (-16)
	91	91	Lomineishvili, Maia	m	GEO	2371 (0)	0 (-11)
	92	92	Gara, Anita	m	HUN	2370 (+1)	17 (-1)
	93	96	Michna, Marta	wg	GER	2370 (+4)	8 (+8)
	94	85	Vajda, Szidonia	m	HUN	2369 (-13)	17 (-2)
	95	94	Iljushina, Olga	wg	RUS	2367 (0)	0 (-7)
	96	95	Goletiani, Rusudan	m	USA	2366 (0)	0 (-18)
	97	-	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2365 (+)	23 (+)
	98	-	Gaprindashvili, Nona	g	GEO	2360 (+)	9 (+)
	99	89	Calzetta Ruiz, Monica	wg	ESP	2359 (-14)	8 (-17)
	100	100	Djingarova, Emilia	wg	BUL	2359 (0)	0 (0)

FIDE JANUARY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 20 JUNIORS

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2810	16	1990
2	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2730	21	1990
3	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2720	12	1990
4	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2675	18	1992
5	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2658	10	1990
6	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2656	8	1993
7	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2647	20	1991
8	Andreikin, Dmitry	g	RUS	2635	14	1990
9	Kuzubov, Yuriy	g	UKR	2634	0	1990
10	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	g	NOR	2627	18	1990
11	Negi, Parimarjan	g	IND	2621	2	1993
12	Popov, Ivan	g	RUS	2617	17	1990
13	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	g	VIE	2616	0	1990
14	Kovalyov, Anton	g	ARG	2613	18	1992
15	Sjugirov, Sanan	g	RUS	2610	10	1993
16	Edouard, Romain	g	FRA	2608	5	1990
17	Howell, David W L	g	ENG	2606	20	1990
18	Khairullin, Ildar	g	RUS	2605	2	1990
19	Safarli, Eltaj	g	AZE	2594	9	1992
20	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2590	14	1994

FIDE NOVEMBER 2009 RATING LIST: TOP 20 GIRLS

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2590	14	1994
2	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2523	25	1990
3	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2512	4	1991
4	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2471	11	1991
5	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464	3	1991
6	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455	0	1991
7	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2447	0	1992
8	Cori T., Deysi	wm	PER	2412	33	1993
9	Savina, Anastasia		RUS	2407	20	1992
10	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	wg	RUS	2372	2	1992
11	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2365	23	1991
12	Muminova, Nafisa	wm	UZB	2347	0	1990
13	Severiukhina, Zoja	wm	RUS	2341	13	1990
14	Pustovoitova, Daria		RUS	2319	25	1994
15	Kashlinskaya, Alina	wg	RUS	2315	15	1993
16	Ding, Yixin	wf	CHN	2315	8	1991
17	Tsatsalashvili, Keti	wm	GEO	2312	30	1992
18	Rakic, Marija	wm	SRB	2306	3	1990
19	Ohme, Melanie	wm	GER	2300	7	1990
20	Vojinovic, Jovana	wg	MNE	2296	19	1992