Ratings of World Championship Players

An interesting observation from the FIDE rating lists immediately prior to each world championship match since ratings were started in 1970.

July 1972 Rating List
1 Fischer Robert 2785
2 Spassky Boris 2660

May 1974 Rating List
1 Fischer Robert 2780
2 Karpov Anatoly 2700
3 Kortchnoi Viktor 2670

January 1978 Rating List
1 Karpov Anatoly 2725
2 Kortchnoi Viktor 2665

July 1981 Rating List
1 Karpov Anatoly 2690
2 Kortchnoi Viktor 2650 (tied with Portisch)

July 1984 Rating List
1 Kasparov Gary 2715
2 Karpov Anatoly 2705

July 1985 Rating List
1 Karpov Anatoly 2720
2 Kasparov Gary 2700

July 1986 Rating List
1 Kasparov Gary 2740
2 Karpov Anatoly 2705

July 1987 Rating List
1 Kasparov Gary 2740
2 Karpov Anatoly 2700

July 1990 Rating List
1 Kasparov Gary 2800
2 Karpov Anatoly 2730

All seems right with the world. Every championship match from 1972 to 1990 was played between the #1 and #2 rated players in the world, and the Candidates Final in 1974 was between the #2 and #3 players. Now things seem to get somewhat confused starting with the 1993 match.

July 1993 Rating List
1 Kasparov, Gary 2815
2 Karpov Anatoly 2760
10 Short Nigel 2665

July 1995 Rating List
1 Kasparov Gary 2795
2 Karpov Anatoly 2775
6 Anand Viswanathan 2725

Not offering this as being of any value, just something to think about.

USCF Website Not Up Yet

The live date for the new website was moved back to June 30th. Not an encouraging sign for the quality of the site.

Player Plaza

www.PlayerPlaza.com is a new online gaming marketplace where individuals can challenge each other in head-to-head competition for fun or money. Check it out.

Changes in Chess Life

Just got this month's Chess Life magazine. There are a lot of changes; I'm still trying to absorb some of them and decide how I feel about them. First of all, the graphic layout of the magazine was completely revamped. I'm not sure if it's better or not; I tend to be rather conservative and have not adjusted to the change yet, but I think it actually might look better now.

On a more substantive note, there were a number of content changes. Daniel Lucas's editor's note states that the goal was to reduce the number of columns in order to make space for more feature articles.

The biggest change is that the Larry Evans Q&A column is gone. I didn't think it was great, but it was one of the first things I turned to in the magazine because it did not require me to break out the board in order to read it. (And I once got an opening question published in his column.) I'm sorry to see it go. It will been replaced (starting June 15) with an online Q&A discussion thread on www.uschess.org led by Joel Benjamin.

The key crackers column (which I haven't glanced at more than once or twice in twenty years of getting Chess Life) is gone. No loss there. The correspondence chess column "Check is in the Mail" is gone. I occasionally read those games, but there was nothing particularly fascinating about those games that I can't get by reading games elsewhere in the magazine.

Michael Rohde's "Game of the Month" column is gone, but now there's "Polgar's Pick", so that's a net wash. Susan Polgar's analysis of Onishuk-Shulman was good, but I'm not sure why the change in name. I have fond memories of Gligoric's "Game of the Month" column in the 1970s, but I guess they were trying to stress that it's Susan's column. There seems to be some interest in pushing the women in chess theme; next month's issue "will be a celebration of women's chess in America."

The columns by Soltis (Chess to Enjoy), Benko (Endgame Lab) and Alburt (Back to Basics) are all still there. Pandolfini's Solitaire Chess has been substantially reformatted; I read that column and I definitely think the new format is easier to use.

Overall, the changes in the magazine seem to be neutral to slightly positive, but if they are expecting great things from the new format they will probably be sadly disappointed. Possibly of more importance to the USCF will be the changes they are rolling out on www.uschess.org on June 15th. Hopefully, those are the solid improvements that the website desperately needs rather than a mixed bag of tweaks like the changes to the magazine.

Olympiad Final Round

Men:

Results this round:

• Armenia (which went into this round 2.5 points ahead), made four quick draws against Hungary, securing Gold less than an hour after the start of round.
• China beat the Netherlands 2.5:1.5 to take Silver
• Russia lost to Israel 1:3 causing them to drop out of the top three slots
• The USA beat Norway 3.5:0.5, to draw even with Israel

Standings:
Armenia - Gold
China - Silver
USA - Bronze (on tiebreak over Israel)

Interesting facts:

• Armenia was the only undefeated team +10 =3
• #1 seed Russia ended up in 6th place, losing four matches (to France, the USA, Israel and the Netherlands)
• #2 seed India ended up in 30th place with a record of +6 -4 =3
• Sierra Leone and Somalia ended up not fielding teams
• Israel was fourth (losing on tiebreak to the USA), and Hungary was fifth

Women:

Results this round:
The results in this round did not change any of the standings.

• Ukraine (which went into this round 2 points ahead), made three quick draws against Armenia
• Russia beat India 2:1
• China beat Belarus 2.5:0.5

Standings:
Ukraine - Gold
Russia - Silver
China - Bronze

Interesting facts:

• Ukraine was the only undefeated team +12 =1
• #1 seed Russia ended up in second place due to their loss to Ukraine. Had they won that match, they would have taken the gold by a half point
• The USA, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Georgia tied for fourth place, but they were 3 points behind China
• Afghanistan, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan ended up not playing

Olympiad Round 12

Men:

Results this round:
Armenia drew France 2:2
China defeated the Czech Republic 3:1
Russia defeated Cuba 3:1
Israel defeated the USA 2.5:1.5

Standings:
Armenia - 34
China - 31.5
Russia - 31

Women:

Results this round:
Ukraine defeated India 2.5:0.5
Russia drew France 1.5:1.5
China drew the USA 1.5:1.5

Standings:
Ukraine - 28
Russia - 26
China - 25

USA-Russia Match

Kamsky (USA) - Kramnik (Russia)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c6 4. e3 Qb6 5. Qc1 Bf5 6. c4 e6 7. Nc3Nbd7 8. c5 Qd8 9. Be2 Be7 10. h3 Ne4 11. O-O g5 12. Be5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5Bf6 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Qc3 Bg7 16. b4 O-O 17. b5 cxb5 18. Bxb5 Qc7 19.Rac1 f6 20. Nd7 Rfd8 21. c6 bxc6 22. Qxc6 Qxc6 23. Bxc6 Rac8 24. Bb5Bg6 25. Nc5 Rd6 26. a4 Bf8 27. Na6 Rc2 28. Rxc2 Bxc2 29. Nc5 e5 30.Rc1 Bf5 31. g4 Bg6 32. Nd7 Be8 33. Nxf8 Bxb5 34. axb5 Kxf8 35. dxe5fxe5 36. Rc7 d4 37. exd4 exd4 38. Kf1 d3 39. Ke1 Rd5 40. Rxa7 Rxb5 41.Rxh7 Rb1+ 42. Kd2 Rf1 43. Kxd3 Rxf2 44. Ke4 Rf4+ 45. Ke5 Rf3 46. Ke6Kg8 47. Rh5 Kf8 48. Rxg5 Rxh3 49. Kf6 Ra3 50. Kg6 Kg8 1/2-1/2

Svidler (Russia) - Onischuk (USA)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 Re8 10. Nc3 h6 11. a3 Bc5 12. Ba2 Nd4 13. Be3 d614. b4 Bb6 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Ne2 d5 17. e5 Nd7 18. Nf4 Nf8 19. c3 dxc320. d4 a5 21. Qc2 Ne6 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Qxc3 g6 24. Bb1 axb4 25. axb4Rxa1 26. Qxa1 Qf8 27. Qb2 Bc8 28. Re3 Re8 29. h4 Kh8 30. h5 g5 31. Nd2Bg4 32. Nf1 Bxh5 33. Ng3 Bg6 34. Nf5 Re6 35. Rf3 Bh7 36. Bd3 Qe8 37.g4 Qc6 38. Qd2 Kg8 39. Kg2 Kf8 40. Ng3 Be4 41. Bxe4 dxe4 42. Re3 Qd543. Nf5 Rxe5 44. Kg1 Rxf5 45. gxf5 Qxf5 46. Qc2 Bxd4 47. Rxe4 Bxf2+48. Kg2 Kg7 49. Qc3+ Kg6 50. Re5 Qf4 51. Qd3+ Kf6 52. Re4 Qf5 53. Qc3+Kg6 54. Re5 Qf4 55. Qd3+ Kf6 56. Re4 Qf5 57. Qc3+ Kg6 1/2-1/2

Nakamura (USA) - Grischuk (Russia)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 h68. h3 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. Bg2 Nbd7 11. Qe2 Rc8 12. O-O Nc5 13. Bd2 e5 14.Nb3 Be7 15. f4 Ne6 16. f5 Nd4 17. Qd3 O-O 18. Rfe1 Nd7 19. Be3 Nc5 20.Nxc5 dxc5 21. Nd5 Bh4 22. Rf1 c4 23. Qd1 Bxd5 24. exd5 Bg5 25. Bf2 c326. b3 Bd2 27. Be4 Re8 28. f6 gxf6 29. Bh4 Bg5 30. Bg3 Rc5 31. h4 Be3+32. Kh2 Bd2 33. g5 f5 34. Qh5 Qd6 35. Bxf5 Nxf5 36. Rxf5 Qg6 37. Qg4h5 38. Qe4 Rxd5 39. Raf1 Rd4 40. Qb7 Bf4 41. Rf6 Qxc2+ 42. Kh3 Rf8 43.g6 fxg6?? (43....Bxg3!-+) 44. Bxf4 exf4 45. Rxf8+ Kxf8 46. Qb8+ Ke7 47. Qe5+ Kf7 48.Qxd4 Qf5+ 49. Kh2 1-0

Bareev (Russia) - Kaidanov (USA)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 Ne4 6. Qd3 Qa5 7. Qxe4Bxc3+ 8. Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Nxd2 O-O 10. dxc5 Qxc5 11. Bg2 Nc6 12. O-O b613. Qf4 Ba6 14. Rac1 Rab8 15. Rfd1 Qe7 16. Ne4 f5 17. Nd6 e5 18. Qe3Rf6 19. Nb5 Rc8 20. Qd2 e4 21. Nd6 Rb8 22. b4 Nd8 23. Qd5+ Qe6 24. g4g6 25. gxf5 gxf5 26. f3 exf3 27. Qxf3 Nf7 28. Qf4 Rg6 29. Nxf7 Kxf730. Qxb8 Rxg2+ 31. Kxg2 Qxe2+ 32. Kg1 Qe3+ 33. Kf1 Qf3+ 34. Kg1 Qe3+ 35. Kf1 1/2-1/2

Olympiad Round 11

Men:

Results this round:
Armenia defeated the Czech Republic 3:1
France defeated China 2.5:1.5
USA defeated Russia 2.5:1.5

Standings:
Armenia - 32
China, France - 28.5
Russia, USA - 28

Women:

Results this round:
Ukraine defeated Bulgaria 2.5:0.5
Russia defeated Georgia 2:1
China defeated Greece 3:0

Standings:
Ukraine - 25.5
Russia - 24.5
China - 23.5

Olympiad Round 10

Men:

Results this round:
Armenia beat China 2½:1½.
France and USA tied 2-2.
Russia beat Ukraine 3-1.
Czech Republic beat Slovenia 3½:½.

Standings:
Armenia - 29
China - 27
Russia, Czech Republic - 26.5

It has no impact on the standings, but it is worth noting that there are four undefeated teams so far:
Armenia (+9 =1)
USA (+7 =3)
Czech Republic, France (+6 =4)

Women:

Results this round:
Ukraine beat Georgia 2-1.
Russia beat Bulgaria 2-1.
China beat Armenia 2-1, avenging the men's team.

Standings:
Ukraine - 23 (Has won all ten of its matches.)
Russia - 22.5
China - 20.5