The new FIDE rating list is out. All of the top 10 players were
in action this quarter so there was some shuffling at the top. The
run down:
1.(previously 1) Garry Kasparov(2830) The Boss's winning streak may have come to an
end at Linares, but he still sits comfortably in the top spot.
2.(2) Vladimir Kramnik (2789) The classical World Champion made up for a
disappointing showing at Wijk aan Zee by tying for first at Linares for a net gain
3.(3) Vishy Anand(2764) - Clear first at WaZ and a solid Linares
keeps the Indian at #3.
4.(5) Peter Leko(2746) - Linares champion continues his climb
5.(9) Alexei Shirov(2735) - Clear first in Cat 15 Iceland gives him the largest
place gain in the top 10.
6.(4) Veselin Topalov(2735) - Middle of the pack at WaZ.
7.(8) Evgeny Bareev(2734) Clear 3rd at WaZ bumps him up a place.
8.(6) Michael Adams(2723) Only +1 in Iceland despite being top seed.
9.(7)Ruslan Ponomariov(2718)- FIDE champ droping with poor results at WaZ and Linares
10.(13) Judit Polgar(2715) - Top woman continues climb with clear second at
WaZ.
Other notables inclue #12 Vassily Ivanchuk(2704) back in Club 2700 after a short exit. This brings the total number of players over 2700 to 16 which I believe is the most ever. WaZ B Group winner Zhang Zong(2666) is now #29. The youngest and oldest players in the top 100 both celebrated birthdays in March. #46 Teimour Radjabov(2644) is now 16, while #61 Viktor Korchnoi(2632) is 72. Somehow, #76 Pavel Smirnov(2615) does not have the GM title.
The US in down to only 4 players in the top 100, trailing Russia(27), Germany(6), England(5), and Ukraine(5). World #42 Alexander Onischuk(2647) remains the top US player, #51 Gregory Kaidanov(2640) takes over the second spot from #69 Yasser Seirawan(2626) while #78 Alexander Goldin(2611) hangs on to the fourth position. The rest of the US top 10 are Igor Novikov(2593); Alexander Shabalov(2592) whose gains from winning the US Championship were wiped out by his subsequent results in Bermuda and the Aeroflot Open; Joel Benjamin(2589); Ilya Gurevich(2586); Boris Gulko(2583); and Ildar Ibragimov(2574). I didn't play any FIDE rated games this quarter, so my rating stayed the same at 2308 and I dropped a few places to #156 among active US players.