April 2007 Rating List

The final list, after inclusion of Morelia/Linares...

Rnk	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2786	27	1969
2	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2772	27	1975
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2772	13	1975
4	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2762	21	1977
5	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2759	27	1982
6	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2757	3	1985
7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2747	13	1987
8	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2738	14	1979
9	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2736	27	1976
10	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2734	1	1971
11	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2733	0	1968
12	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2729	24	1969
13	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2727	0	1976
14	Navara, David	g	CZE	2720	19	1985
15	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2717	13	1983
16	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2717	0	1983
17	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2709	3	1983
18	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2708	32	1983
19	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2705	0	1974
20	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2699	20	1972

The original list...

Rnk	Name	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2791	13	1975
2	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2778	13	1969
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2772	13	1975
4	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2759	13	1982
5	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2757	3	1985
6	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	2756	7	1977
7	Leko, Peter	HUN	2749	0	1979
8	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2747	13	1987
9	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2735	10	1969
10	Adams, Michael	ENG	2734	1	1971
11	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2733	0	1968
12	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2731	13	1976
13	Polgar, Judit	HUN	2727	0	1976
14	Navara, David	CZE	2720	19	1985
15	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2717	13	1983
16	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2717	0	1983
17	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2709	3	1983
18	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2708	32	1983
19	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2705	0	1974
20	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	2703	18	1971

It was a surprise to me that Viswanathan Anand is not in the number one slot – it is still Veselin Topalov, 13 points ahead of Anand. Apparently the Linares tournament, which Anand won, was not included. The Indian Chess Federation has protested. According to calculations made by chess experts all over the world Anand should have been in the number one spot, after his superb win in Morelia/Linares (where Topalov, at the same time, shed a number of rating points.

The final games in Linares were played on March 10th, 2007, and thus the tournament could be considered ineligible for the calculations of the April list, since the deadline for submissions of tournaments for the April ratings is Feburary 28. However, in the past FIDE has always included this key tournament in its April list. This is certainly true of the April lists for 2006 (Linares finished on March 11); 2005 (finished on March 11); and for the previous years 2004, 2003 and 2002. That is as far as we have easily accessible records on the subject. Colleagues in India tell us that the practice of including Linares goes back to when the April list was first introduced.

So why was Linares excluded this time? FIDE Presidential Board member Nigel Freeman has posted a statement on the subject: "Before the conspiracy theories get out of hand, perhaps I can explain what happened to the best of my knowledge. With regards to Morelia-Linares, in order to be completely fair, the Ratings Committee has decided that only tournaments that finished a month before the rating list comes into effect should be rated. Once one starts to make exceptions, where does one stop? Why Morelia-Linares and not a whole host of others?"

Two points can be made here: Why, then, was Linares included in the calculations of all previous April lists? When was a change in the practical application of the guidlines for the ratings decided? Was it announced before Morelia/Linares, or did the decision come after the event had been completed? And secondly: if we are not mistaken the 2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship in Tehran, which was held entirely in March (from 1st to 9th) was included in the tournaments used to calculate the April 2007 list. At least three other events that spilled into March were used in the calculations.