exd5!

05.01.2010
– According to the current FIDE rankings Magnus Carlsen is the strongest player in the world. But his rating of 2810 is not the highest ever. That was achieved by Garry Kasparov, who in the July 1999 FIDE list reached 2851 points. Two other players have at some stage had higher ratings than Magnus. Here's a list of all Super-GMs (over 2700) and their top ratings.

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Top Ratings of Super-GM

Three years ago Przemek Jahr of Pila, Poland, sent us a
list of all players who had reached a rating of 2700 or higher, giving their
highest ever ratings and the year and the FIDE list in which it was achieved.
Chess fan Kostantin Ikonomovski of Jankovec, Macedonia, has been updating this
list meticulously and sent us the latest version that incorporates all list
up to the January
1st 2010 FIDE rankings.

Konstantin is a member of the amater team of Alkaloid for many years; "That
meant that I used to have four extra vacations every year on company expences,"
he writes, "always in some wonderful places throughout the former Yugoslavia.
I carry beautiful memories of this."

Addendum: the publication of this list under the original
front page title "The strongest players of all time" has led to
some furious messages from readers who blame "rating inflation"
for putting Bobby Fischer in place nine. We have sought to placate them with
a title change ("highest rated players") and understand that we
will have to (sigh) come back to this subject again soon.

Addendum 2: We have made some corrections in the list.
Carlsen has switched places with Kramnik, whose highest rating was 2809, not
2811. Grischuk was corrected and is now one place lower, and Sergey Tiviakov
was removed from the list, since his 2700 rating in October 2005 was corrected
to 2699.

Top ten rated players of all time

The highest rating ever, by Garry Kasparov, is 38 points more than any other
player in history. Five players have crossed the 2800 mark, five players have
come within twenty points of it. Here's the complete table.

Super-GMs who achieved a 2700 or higher rating

#	Surname, Name	Nat.	Born	Max	When	01.10
1	Kasparov, Garry	RUS	1963	2851	1999.07	2812
2	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	1975	2813	2006.07	2805
3	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	1990	2810	2010.01	2810
4	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	1975	2809	2002.01	2788
5	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	1969	2803	2006.04	2790
6	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	1977	2788	2008.07	2732
7	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	1969	2787	2007.10	2749
8	Aronian, Levon	ARM	1982	2786	2009.11	2781
9	Fischer, Robert	USA	1943	2785	1972.04	2785
10	Karpov, Anatoly	RUS	1951	2780	1994.07	2619
11	Svidler, Peter	RUS	1976	2765	2006.01	2744
12	Leko, Peter	HUN	1979	2763	2005.04	2739
13	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	1987	2761	2009.01	2733
14	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	1968	2761	2010.01	2761
15	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	1985	2760	2008.01	2741
16	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	1983	2760	2009.01	2730
17	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	1986	2759	2010.01	2759
18	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	1972	2755	2008.01	2723
19	Adams, Michael	ENG	1971	2755	2000.07	2694
20	Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	1978	2751	2009.01	2704
21	Wang, Yue	CHN	1987	2749	2010.01	2749
22	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	1983	2748	2009.04	2736
23	Kamsky, Gata	USA	1974	2745	1996.07	2693
24	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	1983	2743	2002.04	2737
25	Bareev, Evgeny	RUS	1966	2739	2003.10	2643
36	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	1983	2736	2010.01	2736
27	Polgar, Judith	HUN	1976	2735	2005.07	2682
28	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	1987	2735	2009.09	2708
29	Karjakin Sergey	RUS	1990	2732	2008.01	2720
30	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	1983	2731	2005.04	2713
31	Vachier-Laqrave, Maxime	FRA	1990	2730	2010.01	2730
32	Navara, David	CZE	1985	2725	2006.10	2708
33	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	1985	2725	2009.09	2703
34	Ni, Hua	CHN	1983	2724	2009.04	2657
35	Dominguez Perez, Lenier	CUB	1983	2721	2009.04	2712
36	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	1980	2716	2009.09	2716
37	Salov, Valery	RUS	1964	2715	1995.01	2644
38	Wang Hao	CHN	1989	2715	2010.01	2715
39	Van Wely, Loek	NED	1972	2714	2001.10	2652
40	Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	1985	2714	2008.10	2682
41	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	1971	2713	2006.07	2700
42	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	1986	2713	2008.01	2660
43	Short, Nigel	ENG	1965	2712	2004.04	2707
44	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND	1981	2711	2009.01	2664
45	Vellejo-Pons Francisco	ESP	1982	2711	2009.11	2711
46	Beliavsky, Alexander	SLO	1953	2710	1997.07	2657
47	Motylev Alexander	RUS	1979	2710	2009.07	2697
48	Almasi Zoltan	HUN	1976	2710	2010.01	2710
49	Tomashevsky Evgeny	RUS	1987	2708	2009.11	2705
50	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROM	1976	2707	2005.10	2681
51	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	UZB	1979	2706	2001.10	2702
52	Sokolov, Ivan	BIH	1968	2706	2004.01	2649
53	Tal, Mikhail	LAT	1936	2705	1980.01	2705
54	Dreev, Alexey	RUS	1969	2705	2003.10	2650
55	Milov, Vadim	SUI	1972	2705	2008.07	2644
56	Jobava Baadur	GEO	1983	2704	2010.01	2704
57	Rublevski, Sergei	RUS	1974	2703	2009.07	2697
58	Krasenkow, Michal	POL	1963	2702	2000.07	2656
59	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	1966	2702	2001.07	2668
60	Khalifman, Alexander	RUS	1968	2702	2001.10	2616
61	Azmaiparashvili, Zurab	GEO	1960	2702	2003.07	2637
62	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	1971	2700	2005.04	2692
63	Naiditsch Arkadij	GER	1985	2700	2008-04	2687

Colour codes: Veteran active, Retired,
Deceased

See also articles by Jeff Sonas

• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part I
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part II
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part III
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part IV
• What was the
  strongest tournament of all time?
• Rating inflation
  – its causes and possible cures

Copyright
ChessBase

Read Full Post »

05.01.2010
– According to the current FIDE rankings Magnus Carlsen is the strongest player in the world. But his rating of 2810 is not the highest ever. That was achieved by Garry Kasparov, who in the July 1999 FIDE list reached 2851 points. Two other players have at some stage had higher ratings than Magnus. Here's a list of all Super-GMs (over 2700) and their top ratings.

Andrew Martin:
The Trompowsky - The easy way - 2nd Edition
Thirty years ago the Trompowsky opening was almost totally unknown. It took a few spectacular games by Rafael Vaganian to bring 2.Bg5 into the limelight, and after that, the die was cast. Today 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 is used by many of the best players in the world and a whole body of complicated theory has built up.
More information...

Top Ratings of Super-GM

Three years ago Przemek Jahr of Pila, Poland, sent us a
list of all players who had reached a rating of 2700 or higher, giving their
highest ever ratings and the year and the FIDE list in which it was achieved.
Chess fan Kostantin Ikonomovski of Jankovec, Macedonia, has been updating this
list meticulously and sent us the latest version that incorporates all list
up to the January
1st 2010 FIDE rankings.

Konstantin is a member of the amater team of Alkaloid for many years; "That
meant that I used to have four extra vacations every year on company expences,"
he writes, "always in some wonderful places throughout the former Yugoslavia.
I carry beautiful memories of this."

Top ten players of all time

The highest rating ever, by Garry Kasparov, is 38 points more than any other
player in history. Five players have crossed the 2800 mark, five players have
come within twenty points of it. Here's the complete table.

Super-GMs who achieved a 2700 or higher rating

#	Surname, Name	Nat.	Born	Max	When	01.10
1	Kasparov, Garry	RUS	1963	2851	1999.07	2812
2	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	1975	2813	2006.07	2805
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	1975	2811	2002.01	2788
4	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	1990	2810	2010.01	2810
5	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	1969	2803	2006.04	2790
6	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	1977	2788	2008.07	2732
7	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	1969	2787	2007.10	2749
8	Aronian, Levon	ARM	1982	2786	2009.11	2781
9	Fischer, Robert	USA	1943	2785	1972.04	2785
10	Karpov, Anatoly	RUS	1951	2780	1994.07	2619
11	Svidler, Peter	RUS	1976	2765	2006.01	2744
12	Leko, Peter	HUN	1979	2763	2005.04	2739
13	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	1987	2761	2009.01	2733
14	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	1968	2761	2010.01	2761
15	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	1985	2760	2008.01	2741
16	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	1983	2760	2009.01	2730
17	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	1986	2759	2010.01	2759
18	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	1972	2755	2008.01	2723
19	Adams, Michael	ENG	1971	2755	2000.07	2694
20	Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	1978	2751	2009.01	2704
21	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	1983	2750	2009.04	2736
22	Wang, Yue	CHN	1987	2749	2010.01	2749
23	Kamsky, Gata	USA	1974	2745	1996.07	2693
24	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	1983	2743	2002.04	2737
25	Bareev, Evgeny	RUS	1966	2739	2003.10	2643
36	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	1983	2736	2010.01	2736
27	Polgar, Judith	HUN	1976	2735	2005.07	2682
28	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	1987	2735	2009.09	2708
29	Karjakin Sergey	RUS	1990	2732	2008.01	2720
30	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	1983	2731	2005.04	2713
31	Vachier-Laqrave, Maxime	FRA	1990	2730	2010.01	2730
32	Navara, David	CZE	1985	2725	2006.10	2708
33	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	1985	2725	2009.09	2703
34	Ni, Hua	CHN	1983	2724	2009.04	2657
35	Dominguez Perez, Lenier	CUB	1983	2721	2009.04	2712
36	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	1980	2716	2009.09	2716
37	Salov, Valery	RUS	1964	2715	1995.01	2644
38	Wang Hao	CHN	1989	2715	2010.01	2715
39	Van Wely, Loek	NED	1972	2714	2001.10	2652
40	Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	1985	2714	2008.10	2682
41	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	1971	2713	2006.07	2700
42	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	1986	2713	2008.01	2660
43	Short, Nigel	ENG	1965	2712	2004.04	2707
44	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND	1981	2711	2009.01	2664
45	Vellejo-Pons Francisco	ESP	1982	2711	2009.11	2711
46	Beliavsky, Alexander	SLO	1953	2710	1997.07	2657
47	Motylev Alexander	RUS	1979	2710	2009.07	2697
48	Almasi Zoltan	HUN	1976	2710	2010.01	2710
49	Tomashevsky Evgeny	RUS	1987	2708	2009.11	2705
50	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROM	1976	2707	2005.10	2681
51	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	UZB	1979	2706	2001.10	2702
52	Sokolov, Ivan	BIH	1968	2706	2004.01	2649
53	Tal, Mikhail	LAT	1936	2705	1980.01	2705
54	Dreev, Alexey	RUS	1969	2705	2003.10	2650
55	Milov, Vadim	SUI	1972	2705	2008.07	2644
56	Jabava Baadur	GEO	1983	2704	2010.01	2704
57	Rublevski, Sergei	RUS	1974	2703	2009.07	2697
58	Krasenkow, Michal	POL	1963	2702	2000.07	2656
59	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	1966	2702	2001.07	2668
60	Khalifman, Alexander	RUS	1968	2702	2001.10	2616
61	Azmaiparashvili, Zurab	GEO	1960	2702	2003.07	2637
62	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	1971	2700	2005.04	2692
63	Tiviakov, Sergei	NED	1973	2700	2005.10	2662
64	Naiditsch Arkadij	GER	1985	2700	2008-04	2687

Colour codes: Veteran active, Retired,
Deceased

See also articles by Jeff Sonas

• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part I
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part II
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part III
• The Greatest
  Chess Player of All Time – Part IV
• What was the
  strongest tournament of all time?
• Rating inflation
  – its causes and possible cures

Copyright
ChessBase

Read Full Post »

31.12.2009
– FIDE has just released its January 1st 2010 rating list, and it has the 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen with 2810 in the number one slot, five points ahead of number two Veselin Topalov, and twenty points above World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Magnus is the youngest player to cross the 2800 mark and to top the world rankings.
Congratulations!

Andrew Martin:
The Trompowsky - The easy way - 2nd Edition
Thirty years ago the Trompowsky opening was almost totally unknown. It took a few spectacular games by Rafael Vaganian to bring 2.Bg5 into the limelight, and after that, the die was cast. Today 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 is used by many of the best players in the world and a whole body of complicated theory has built up.
More information...

FIDE January 2010 Rating List

Magnus Carlsen gained nine rating points in his last sixteen
games to come in at 2810 Elo points and to occupy the number one slot in the
world rankings. Below is this prodigy's rating progress in the last nine years.

In second place is Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov, who lost
five points in four games (at the European Team Championships in Novi Sad),
followed by World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who lost two
points in nine games. Vladimir Kramnik is number four, having
won a whopping sixteen points in sixteen games. Kramnik displaced Levon
Aronian, who lost five points and is now in place five in the world
rankings.

Other notatble changes at the top: Vassily Ivanchuk has gained ten points and
is once again in the top ten. So is Chinese GM Wang Yue, who gained fifteen
points. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov gained 22 points, while Peter Leko lost 13, Teimour
Radjabov 15 and Alexander Morozevich 18 points.

FIDE January 1st 2010 – Top 100 Players

FIDE Top 100 Women January 2010

Nothing has changed: Judit Polgar is still almost 70 points ahead of her nearest
rival, Indian GM Koneru Humpy. Chinese wonder talent Hou Yifan continues to
move slowly towards the 2600 mark and we can expect her to soon be the third
female player in history to achive this.

Read Full Post »

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Men – Women The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Chessbase.com

Read Full Post »

27.12.2009
– Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler both won in round six and drew in round seven to maintain their places at the top of the table. Grischuk has 5.0/7 with a 2833 performance, Svidler 4.5/7 at 2778. In the women's section Alisa Galliamova has conceded a single draw. She lead by a full point, with a 2868 performance, but can still be caught, e.g. by Nadezhda Kosintseva.

Report by Misha Savinov.

Andrew Martin:
The Trompowsky - The easy way - 2nd Edition
Thirty years ago the Trompowsky opening was almost totally unknown. It took a few spectacular games by Rafael Vaganian to bring 2.Bg5 into the limelight, and after that, the die was cast. Today 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 is used by many of the best players in the world and a whole body of complicated theory has built up.
More information...

The Russian Championship Super Final for men and women is taking place from
December 19th to 30th in the Moscow Central Chess Club in the Gogolevsky Boulevard.
Participants are the top players by rating and qualifiers from the higher league
competitions. The rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes
for 20 moves, and then 15 minutes and a 30 second increment per move to end
the game. Players cannot offer draws directly to their opponents but have to
do so through an arbiter. Play starts at 15:00h local Moscow time (13:00 CET,
07:00 New York). The prize fund is close to two million rubles = US $100,000
for the men and 1.2 million rubles = US $40,000 for the women.

Fighting spirit in Moscow

Report after round seven by Misha Savinov

Peter Svidler quickly recovered after his sensational loss to Sanan Sjugirov
by beating Artyom Timofeev in the next round. According to Peter, his opponent
made a big mistake in the opening – 14...Rad8 (14...Rab8 is much better,
14...c5 is okay), after which White gained a lot of momentum. Already on the
18th move Black sacrificed an exchange. It was not exactly forced, but both
players considered this move to be Black’s best try. Yet, the compensation
was not sufficient, and White quickly converted his material advantage into
a win.

Svidler,P (2754) - Timofeev,Arty (2651) [C10]
62nd ch-RUS Moscow RUS (6), 26.12.2009
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Nxf6+ Nxf6
8.Be3 Bd6 9.Bd3 b6 10.Ne5 0-0 11.Qf3 Nd5 12.Bd2 Qh4 13.g4 Bb7 14.0-0-0 Rad8?
15.Rhg1 Ba8 16.Qe4 Nf6 17.Qe2 Bxe5 18.dxe5

18...Rxd3?! An exchange sacrifice that does not work out.
19.cxd3 Nd5 20.f4 Rd8 21.Rdf1 c5 22.f5 Nb4 23.Bxb4 cxb4 24.Qf2 Qe7 25.Qe3
b3 26.Kb1 Qb4 27.a3 Qb5 28.Rd1 Qc5 29.d4 Qd5 30.Rg3 Qe4+ 31.Qxe4 Bxe4+ 32.Kc1
exf5 33.gxf5 Bxf5 34.d5 Re8 35.d6 Kf8 36.Rxb3 Bd7 37.Re3 Re6 38.Rdd3 Ke8 39.Rc3
a5 40.Kd2 1-0.

However, this victory didn’t return Peter to the top, as Alexander Grischuk
also paced up, breaking Sjugirov’s Sicilian in a very convincing way.
Thus Grischuk remained a sole leader in the men’s tournament.

Grischuk,A (2736) - Sjugirov,S (2612) [B90]
62nd ch-RUS Moscow RUS (6), 26.12.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2
Be7 9.f3 0-0 10.0-0-0 Qc7 11.g4 Rc8 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 Nd7 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4
Nxf4 16.Qxf4 Ne5 17.h4 Qb6 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 a5 20.Rb5 Qc7 21.Nd4 a4 22.a3
Ra5 23.h5 Bf8

Grischuk has built up a deadly attack on the kingside and now sees it through:
24.g6 Rxb5 25.Bxb5 Qb6 26.gxf7+ Kh8 27.h6 Qxd4 28.hxg7+ Bxg7 29.Qf5
Ng6 30.Qxc8+ Nf8 31.Qc3 Qxe4 32.Rg1 1-0.

The next round was quite peaceful, with only one game ending decisively –
Alexander Riazantsev scored his first victory. He had black against Sanan Sjugirov,
won a pawn and methodically converted it in an endgame. Other players were not
that lucky: both Alekseev against Khismatullin, and Timofeev against Grischuk
had the same amount of extra material, but the weaker side was able to draw.
Tomashevsky against Vitiugov also had a lasting advantage over the entire game,
but Vitiugov managed to remain calm and defend a very unpleasant position.

In the last two rounds Vitiugov has the best finish – he faces the rather
unmotivated Riazantsev and Khismatullin. If the Petersburger wins twice, he
may catch up with Grischuk and play tie-break games. Svidler trails by just
half a point, but his finish is not as bright: Peter has to face Alekseev and
Tomashevsky. Grischuk also meets two 2700+ players, Jakovenko and Alekseev,
so it is hard to expect him winning the championship with +5 score. Yet, he
is the most likely candidate for winning the race.

Standings after seven rounds

The draw ratio is has climbed to 52% – 18 out of 35 games ended without
a decision. White won 13 = 37% of the games, Black won 4 = 11% of all games.
Grischuk's performance is 2933 and he is sure to be in the top ten in the next
world rankings (if FIDE include the Russian Superfinal in their January 1st
list).

Sanan Sjugirov vs Alexander Riazantsev in round seven (Raizantsev won in
59 moves)

Sjugirov-Svidler, the big sensation of the round five (Sjugirov won in 23
moves)

Dmitry Jakovenko, in fourth place with 3.5/7

Striking resemblance: Evgeny Tomashevsky and Robert Sean
Leonard, who plays Dr James Wilson in “House, MD”

Women's section

In the women’s event Alisa Galliamova had given up just half a point
in seven games, drawing with her main rival and defending champion Nadezhda
Kosintseva. In the seventh round Alisa continued her fantastic performance,
beating Anastasia Bodnaruk as Black. Nadezhda Kosintseva is a full point behind
after winning against the tailender Marina Romanko. Still, nothing is clear
in the women’s championship, and this is why:

In the round eight Galliamova has to conquer Nadezhda’s sister, Tatiana.
This championship is not the best tournament for the younger Kosintseva, but
she will be fully motivated to help her sister winning the Superfinal for the
second year in a row. And in the last round Galliamova faces the unpredictable
Valentina Gunina, a brilliant attacking player capable of beating anyone at
any time. And there is more! Kosintseva sisters play each other in the final
round. Usually they make quick draws, but with the championship at the stake
– who knows what can happen?

Leading with 6.5/7 and a 2868 performance: IM Alisa Galliamova

Standings after seven rounds

The statistics continue to show a sensationally low 20% of drawn games, with
White winning in 46% and Black in 34% of the games.

Maria Manakova, who gained fame five years ago with some playmate
pictures

Tatiana Kosintseva, draw against Maria Manakova in round seven

Nadezhda Kosintseva, beat Marina Romanko in 78 moves

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Men – Women The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Chessbase.com

Read Full Post »