2011 Rating List

Rank Name Title Nation Rating Gms Born

 1 Carlsen, Magnus  g  NOR  2814  17  1990
 2 Anand, Viswanathan  g  IND  2810  17  1969
 3 Aronian, Levon  g  ARM  2805  9  1982
 4 Kramnik, Vladimir  g  RUS  2784  16  1975
 5 Karjakin, Sergey  g  RUS  2776  20  1990
 6 Topalov, Veselin  g  BUL  2775  10  1975
 7 Grischuk, Alexander  g  RUS  2773  20  1983
 8 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar  g  AZE  2772  9  1985
 9 Ivanchuk, Vassily  g  UKR  2764  0  1969
 10 Nakamura, Hikaru  g  USA  2751  16  1987
 11 Ponomariov, Ruslan  g  UKR  2744  0  1983
 11 Radjabov, Teimour  g  AZE  2744  0  1987

Rating inflation continues apace as the 2700 Club swells to 39 members.

Chess ratings - move over Elo‏ (Email from Anthony Goldbloom)

Hi Alberto,

I hope this is of interest.

Jeff Sonas, the creator of the Chessmetrics rating system, launched a competition to find a chess rating algorithm that performs better than the official Elo system. Within 24 hours, two teams had already created algorithms that made more accurate predictions than Elo. It's no surprise that Elo has been outdone — after all, the system was invented half a century ago, before we could easily crunch large amounts of historical data.

The competition requires entrants to build their rating systems based on the results of more than 65,000 historical chess games. Entrants then test their algorithms by predicting the results of another 7,809 games.

Regards,
Anthony

On chess ratings

Alberto,

I thought that you and the chess community might find this interesting. My project, Kaggle, hosted a World Cup forecasting competition for statisticians. The variable that appeared most often in participants' statistical models was the Elo rating (and not betting prices of the official FIFA ranking).

Anthony

2010 Rating List

1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2810
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2805
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790
4 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788
5 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2781
6 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2761
7 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2759
8 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2749
9 Wang, Yue g CHN 2749
10 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2744
11 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2741
12 Leko, Peter g HUN 2739
13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2737
14 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2736
15 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2736

November 2009 Rating List

Carlsen breaks 2800!

Rank Name Title Country Rating
1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2810
2 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2801
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2788
4 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2786
5 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772
6 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2758
7 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2758
8 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2754
9 Leko, Peter g HUN 2752
10 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2750
11 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2748
12 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2739
13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2739
14 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2736
15 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2736

Now that FIDE is publishing lists monthly, I won't post as many rating lists in this blogs. I shall probably limit myself to just each year's January list, to keep some sort of continuity with the rating lists going back to the first list in 1970 which I've posted here.

FIDE Rating List October 1

1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2813 0 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2788 0 1969
3 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2773 13 1982
4 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2772 10 1990
5 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 10 1975
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2762 23 1979
7 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2757 10 1987
8 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2756 42 1969
9 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2756 33 1968
10 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2750 18 1977
11 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2742 24 1983
12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2741 9 1976
13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2741 9 1983
14 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2740 0 1986
15 Wang, Yue g CHN 2736 0 1987

New Rating List

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2813 0 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2788 0 1969
3 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2773 13 1982
4 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2772 10 1990
5 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 10 1975
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2762 23 1979
7 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2757 10 1987
8 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2756 42 1969
9 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2756 33 1968
10 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2750 18 1977
11 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2742 24 1983
12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2741 9 1976
13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2741 9 1983
14 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2740 0 1986

Chess Ratings July 1

1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2813 10 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2788 2 1969
3 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2772 12 1990
4 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2768 13 1982
5 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2760 15 1983
6 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2759 0 1975
7 Leko, Peter g HUN 2756 13 1979
8 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2756 0 1987
9 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2755 27 1968
10 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2751 0 1977
11 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2740 9 1986
12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2739 36 1976
13 Wang, Yue g CHN 2736 10 1987
14 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2733 20 1983

April 1 Rating List

1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2812 17 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2783 14 1969
3 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2770 27 1990
4 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2759 0 1975
5 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2756 27 1987
6 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2754 37 1982
7 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2753 5 1983
8 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2751 13 1977
9 Leko, Peter g HUN 2751 0 1979
10 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2748 14 1983
11 Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2747 23 1978
12 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2746 37 1969
13 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2745 0 1972
14 Wang, Yue g CHN 2738 38 1987

January 2009 Rating List

1 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2796 8 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2791 11 1969
3 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2779 19 1969
4 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2776 17 1990
5 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2771 20 1977
6 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2761 27 1987
7 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2760 40 1983
8 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2759 20 1975
9 Leko, Peter HUN 2751 23 1979
10 Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2751 16 1978
11 Aronian, Levon ARM 2750 16 1982
12 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2745 19 1972
13 Wang, Yue CHN 2739 28 1987

Eight Greatest Players Of All Time

According to ChessMetrics historical rankings over 1-15 year periods...


Player            1 yr 2 yr 3 yr 4 yr 5 yr 10 yr 15 yr
Garry Kasparov     2    1    1    1    1     1     1
Emanuel Lasker     5    3    4    2    2     2     3
José Capablanca    4    5    3    3    3     4     4
Bobby Fischer      1    2    2    4    5     5     7
Mikhail Botvinnik  3    4    5    5    4     6     6
Anatoly Karpov     7    7    7    7    6     3     2
Alexander Alekhine 6    6    6    6    7     8     5
Viswanathan Anand  8    8    8    8    8     7     8

(It's only fitting that something historic like this be the subject of my 500th post in this blog.)

FIDE Rating List

1	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2791
2	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	2787
3	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2786
4	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2786
5	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2783
6	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2772
7	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2757
8	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2751
9	Leko, Peter	HUN	2747
10	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2737
11	Wang, Yue	CHN	2736

FIDE Rating List

Given the massive rating inflation of recent years, I will no longer be posting all GMs over 2700 in my quarterly list. I will only be publishing those with ratings above the average of this group.

1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2798	2	1969
2	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2788	20	1977
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	0	1975
4	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2781	25	1969
5	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2777	10	1975
6	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2775	16	1990
7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2744	31	1987
8	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2742	23	1985
9	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2741	11	1972
10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2741	0	1979
11	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2738	32	1976
12	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2737	11	1982
13	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2735	20	1971

FIDE April 2008 Rating List

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2803	27	1969
2	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	13	1975
3	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2774	11	1977
4	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2767	27	1975
5	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2765	27	1990
6	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2763	27	1982
7	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2752	13	1985
8	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2751	27	1987
9	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2746	11	1976
10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2741	27	1979
11	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2740	35	1969
12	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2740	14	1972
13	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	2732	0	1990
14	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2729	13	1971
15	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2726	0	1974
16	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2723	13	1968
17	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2719	0	1983
18	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2716	11	1983
19	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2711	11	1983
20	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2711	0	1985
21	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2709	13	1976
22	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2708	16	1985
23	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2705	138	1983
24	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2703	28	1983

Polgar is missing from the official list; I added her in by hand in the above post.

January 2008 Rating List

1 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2799 3 1969 and Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2799 9 1975
3 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2780 14 1975
4 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2765 12 1977
5 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2763 19 1976
6 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2760 35 1985
7 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2755 49 1972
8 Leko, Peter g HUN 2753 9 1979
9 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2751 30 1969
10 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2739 16 1982
11 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2737 9 1968
12 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2735 20 1987
13 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2733 37 1990
14 Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2732 36 1990
15 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2726 32 1974 and Adams, Michael g ENG 2726 31 1971
17 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2720 33 1983
18 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2719 40 1983
19 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2713 36 1986
20 Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2711 35 1985 and Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2711 21 1983
22 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2707 10 1976
23 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2700 30 1971 and Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2700 23 1983

FIDE Rating List

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2801	21	1969
2	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2787	20	1969
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2785	21	1975
4	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2769	0	1975
5	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2755	21	1979
6	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2755	19	1977
7	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2752	11	1985
8	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2742	9	1987
9	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2741	14	1982
10	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2739	11	1972
11	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2736	21	1968
12	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2732	25	1976
13	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2729	16	1971
14	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2724	9	1974
15	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2716	17	1985
16	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2715	23	1983
17	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2714	25	1990
18	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2713	5	1971
19	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2710	23	1983
20	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2708	9	1976
21	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2705	5	1983
22	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2703	27	1987

July 2007 Rating List (updated)

Rnk	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2792	4	1969
2	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2769	10	1975
	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2769	1	1975
4	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2762	22	1969
5	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2758	18	1977
6	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2757	14	1985
7	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2751	9	1979
8	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2750	15	1982
9	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2746	7	1987
10	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2735	29	1983
	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2735	28	1972
	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2735	6	1976
13	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2733	21	1968
14	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2726	18	1983
15	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2724	18	1971
16	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2718	28	1974
17	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2710	19	1990
18	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2708	5	1971
19	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2707	10	1976
20	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2706	16	1983
21	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2701	24	1983

• Anand keeps the #1 slot, expanding his lead to 23 rating points
• Ivanchuk moves to #4, picking up 8 slots and 33 rating points (I've always liked Ivanchuk)
  
• Returning 2700 club member: Shirov at #10 (up 36 points)
  
• New 2700 club members: Carlsen (up 17 points) and Eljanov (up 15 points)
  
• Falling off the 2700 list: Bacrot (down 14 points) and Navara (down an incredible 64 points and 41 slots)
  

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.

January 2007 Rating List

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2783	17	1975
2	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2779	0	1969
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2766	11	1975
4	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2754	25	1985
5	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2750	33	1969
6	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2749	9	1979
7	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2744	13	1982
8	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2741	15	1977
9	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2735	0	1971
10	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2733	19	1968
11	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2729	6	1987
12	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2728	28	1976
13	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2727	6	1976
14	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2723	15	1983
15	Navara, David	g	CZE	2719	16	1985
16	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2717	16	1983
17	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2715	21	1972
18	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2705	0	1983
19	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2705	0	1974
20	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2700	15	1971
21	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2700	14	1981

• Topalov hangs on to the #1 slot, 4 points ahead of Anand
• Mamedyarov moves up 8 slots to #4 with a 26-point gain
• Svidler drops 9 slots to #12
• Sasikiran joins the 2700 club
  

Another interesting factoid from this quarter's list is that Korchnoi (age 75) is #85 on the list at 2629, whereas Karpov while rated higher than Korchnoi does not appear on the list due to inactivity. Korchnoi is by far the oldest player ever to be ranked in the FIDE top 100. The second-oldest player on the list is Beliavsky (age 53).

Top US Chess Players

	Title	FIDE Rank	FIDE Rating	USCF Rank	USCF Rating
Kamsky, Gata	g	1	2705	1	2753
Onischuk, Alexander	g	2	2668	3	2702
Nakamura, Hikaru	g	3	2640	2	2709
Seirawan, Yasser	g	4	2638	N/A	N/A
Ibragimov, Ildar	g	5	2616	5	2682
Shulman, Yuri	g	6	2614	6	2679
Akobian, Varuzhan	g	7	2598	10	2654
Ehlvest, Jaan	g	8	2597	7	2666
Stripunsky, Alexander	g	8	2597	11	2650
Kaidanov, Gregory S	g	10	2595	4	2692
Ivanov, Alexander	g	11	2587	15	2640
Goldin, Alexander	g	12	2577	17	2613
Polgar, Zsuzsa	g	12	2577	21	2597
Shabalov, Alexander	g	14	2575	11	2650
Christiansen, Larry M	g	15	2572	8	2663
Gulko, Boris F	g	16	2570	9	2661
Novikov, Igor A	g	17	2568	11	2650
Benjamin, Joel	g	18	2565	14	2646
Finegold, Benjamin	m	19	2543	19	2603
Becerra Rivero, Julio	g	20	2542	18	2605
Perelshteyn, Eugene	g	21	2540	20	2601
De Firmian, Nick E	g	22	2539	25	2581
Kudrin, Sergey	g	23	2532	23	2592
Fishbein, Alexander	g	24	2529	16	2616
Yermolinsky, Alex	g	25	2520	22	2594
Dlugy, Maxim	g	26	2518	24	2586
Serper, Grigory	g	27	2513	26	2574
Gurevich, Dmitry	g	28	2510	27	2573