16 Super-GMs top the list

7/2/2004 – The latest FIDE ratings has Kasparov leading, as he has done since time immemorial, followed by Vishy Anand. Kramnik is third, with place four being taken by Morozevich. Leko, Adams and Topalov are in hot pursuit, rank eight is occupied by a woman! So how have things changed over the last 21 years?

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Until recently a Super-GM used to be player who had reached 2600 rating points or higher. I remember that one of the first chess articles I wrote, back in 1983, was about the concept of Super Grandmasters, of which there had at the time been 30 in the history of the game.

At the time of writing there had been thirteen (German: "dreizehn") Super-GMs, and for the first time since Fischer left the scene, there was an American amongst them, the young Yasser Seirawan.

Karpov was on top of the list in 1983, the only player higher than the magic 2700 mark. "But the rise of 20-year-old Garry Kasparov seems unstoppable," I wrote. "He has put no less than 45 points between himself and the rest of the field, and is just 20 points behind world champion Karpov.

Amongst the women for the first time a western player was at the top of the list, after the reigning world champion Maya Chiburdanidze dropped 30 rating points, while Pia Cramling of Sweden had gained 95 points. The German player Barbara Hund was the first in her country to gain a WGM title.

My, how times have changed. Now-a-days there are well over 100 players who have crossed the 2600 mark, so that the title of Super-GM has shifted to players over 2700 (there have been attempts to call them Mega-GMs, but we will stick to the Super-GM nomenclature).

In the latest FIDE list we find 16 Super-GMs, led by Garry Kasparov, who took over from Karpov shortly after the above article was written and has never relinquished the lead since then. Jens Placke of Germany drew our attention to the fact that today Kasparov is the oldest player amongst the top 22. Number 23 is Anatoly Karpov.

Kasparov's two crown princes Anand and Kramnik have maintained their positions, with Anand in number two slot for a change. Vishy mentioned that neither of the two have actually "overtaken" the other in recent years. When Kramnik became number two it was because of a big drop in Anand's rating; while Anand is now second because of poor results by Kramnik. In fact his rating is slightly lower than when he was third.

Looking at the list of the top 100 we see that there is a musical chairs for the number four spot. Svidler, Leko and Adams have had it, this time Morozevich has edged them out. We cannot be anything but delighted to see Judit Polgar at number eight. And we welcome the 21-year-old French player Etienne Bacrot to the Super-GM club, and Alexei Shirov back to the top-ten group.

Frederic Friedel

List of the top 100 players

Rank Name Country Rating Games
B-Day
1 Kasparov, Garry RUS 2817 0 1963-04-13
2 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2782 9 1969-12-11
3 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2770 4 1975-06-25
4 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2743 9 1977-07-18
5 Leko, Peter HUN 2741 0 1979-09-08
6 Adams, Michael ENG 2738 13 1971-11-17
7 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2737 0 1975-03-15
8 Polgar, Judit HUN 2728 0 1976-07-23
9 Svidler, Peter RUS 2727 15 1976-06-17
10 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2725 24 1972-07-04
11 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2722 0 1983-10-11
12 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2715 13 1969-03-18
13 Bareev, Evgeny RUS 2715 8 1966-11-21
14 Bacrot, Etienne FRA 2712 32 1983-01-22
15 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2709 14 1968-06-24
16 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2705 25 1983-10-31
17 Akopian, Vladimir ARM 2692 15 1971-12-07
18 Dreev, Alexey RUS 2690 26 1969-01-30
19 Rublevsky, Sergei RUS 2686 33 1974-10-15
20 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ROM 2686 29 1976-08-01
21 Short, Nigel D. ENG 2684 14 1965-06-01
22 Milov, Vadim SUI 2683 31 1972-08-01
23 Karpov, Anatoly RUS 2682 0 1951-05-23
24 Ye, Jiangchuan CHN 2681 0 1960-11-20
25 Van Wely, Loek NED 2680 18 1972-10-07
26 Sokolov, Ivan NED 2679 44 1968-06-13
27 Beliavsky, Alexander G SLO 2679 29 1953-12-17
28 Sutovsky, Emil ISR 2679 21 1977-09-19
29 Vallejo Pons, Francisco ESP 2679 11 1982-08-21
30 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab GEO 2679 0 1960-03-16
31 Malakhov, Vladimir RUS 2674 24 1980-11-27
32 Aronian, Levon ARM 2671 34 1982-10-06
33 Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2671 28 1960-09-11
34 Smirin, Ilia ISR 2671 20 1968-01-21
35 Khalifman, Alexander RUS 2669 17 1966-01-18
36 Gurevich, Mikhail BEL 2667 48 1959-02-22
37 Lautier, Joel FRA 2666 23 1973-04-12
38 Aleksandrov, Aleksej BLR 2666 18 1973-05-11
39 Sasikiran, Krishnan IND 2666 9 1981-01-07
40 Sakaev, Konstantin RUS 2664 27 1974-04-13
41 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2664 15 1987-03-12
42 Bologan, Viktor MDA 2663 39 1971-12-14
43 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2662 22 1985-04-12
44 Graf, Alexander GER 2661 15 1962-08-25
45 Motylev, Alexander RUS 2658 18 1979-06-17
46 Onischuk, Alexander USA 2655 20 1975-09-03
47 Nielsen, Peter Heine DEN 2652 31 1973-05-24
48 Zvjaginsev, Vadim RUS 2650 25 1976-08-18
49 Vescovi, Giovanni BRA 2648 0 1978-06-14
50 Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2646 30 1978-11-03
51 Almasi, Zoltan HUN 2644 23 1976-08-29
52 McShane, Luke J. ENG 2643 25 1984-01-07
53 Vaganian, Rafael A ARM 2642 17 1951-10-15
54 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB 2640 27 1979-12-05
55 Moiseenko, Alexander UKR 2640 8 1980-05-17
56 Volokitin, Andrei UKR 2638 20 1986-06-11
57 Fressinet, Laurent FRA 2637 15 1981-11-30
58 Epishin, Vladimir RUS 2635 44 1965-07-11
59 Hansen, Curt DEN 2635 20 1964-09-18
60 Lputian, Smbat G ARM 2634 0 1958-02-14
61 Macieja, Bartlomiej POL 2633 32 1977-10-04
62 Iordachescu, Viorel MDA 2633 17 1977-04-20
63 Krasenkow, Michal POL 2632 45 1963-11-14
64 Seirawan, Yasser USA 2631 6 1960-03-24
65 Miladinovic, Igor GRE 2630 46 1974-01-25
66 Kozul, Zdenko CRO 2630 9 1966-05-21
67 Dominguez, Lenier CUB 2629 20 1983-09-23
68 Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS 2628 28 1971-12-21
69 Bruzon, Lazaro CUB 2628 20 1982-05-02
70 Hjartarson, Johann ISL 2628 13 1963-02-08
71 Vladimirov, Evgeny KAZ 2628 9 1957-01-20
72 Filippov, Valerij RUS 2627 26 1975-11-28
73 Georgiev, Kiril MKD 2626 33 1965-11-28
74 Sadvakasov, Darmen KAZ 2626 0 1979-04-28
75 Volkov, Sergey RUS 2625 16 1974-02-07
76 Huebner, Robert Dr. GER 2624 23 1948-11-06
77 Dautov, Rustem GER 2624 18 1965-11-28
78 Goldin, Alexander USA 2624 14 1965-02-27
79 Piket, Jeroen NED 2624 0 1969-01-27
80 Kaidanov, Gregory S USA 2621 0 1959-10-11
81 Smirnov, Pavel RUS 2620 17 1982-04-27
82 Bu, Xiangzhi CHN 2620 9 1985-12-10
83 Fedorov, Alexei BLR 2620 9 1972-09-27
84 Rozentalis, Eduardas LTU 2619 26 1963-05-27
85 Gyimesi, Zoltan HUN 2618 46 1977-03-31
86 Kobalia, Mikhail RUS 2618 14 1978-05-03
87 Illescas Cordoba, Miguel ESP 2618 10 1965-12-03
88 Sargissian, Gabriel ARM 2617 13 1983-02-03
89 Sadler, Matthew ENG 2617 11 1974-05-15
90 Xu, Jun CHN 2617 5 1962-09-17
91 Navara, David CZE 2616 27 1985-03-27
92 Miroshnichenko, Evgenij UKR 2615 31 1978-12-28
93 Jobava, Baadur GEO 2615 29 1983-11-26
94 Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA 2615 20 1973-11-09
95 Berkes, Ferenc HUN 2614 24 1985-08-08
96 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2613 18 1983-05-10
97 Kempinski, Robert POL 2612 34 1977-07-11
98 Gustafsson, Jan GER 2611 37 1979-06-25
99 Timofeev, Artyom RUS 2611 27 1985-01-06
100 Lastin, Alexander RUS 2611 17 1976-10-30

Top women players

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Day
1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2728 0 1976-07-23
2 Xie, Jun g CHN 2564 0 1970-10-30
3 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2527 49 1979-04-19
4 Kosteniuk, Alexandra m RUS 2511 28 1984-04-23
5 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2511 20 1987-03-31
6 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2498 10 1961-01-17
7 Zhu, Chen g CHN 2494 16 1976-03-16
8 Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2490 11 1972-01-18
9 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2489 37 1963-04-23
10 Matveeva, Svetlana wg RUS 2482 12 1969-07-04
11 Zhao, Xue wg CHN 2477 12 1985-04-06
12 Dzagnidze, Nana wg GEO 2476 20 1987-01-01
13 Zhukova, Natalia wg UKR 2475 26 1979-06-05
14 Xu, Yuhua wg CHN 2472 16 1976-10-29
15 Lahno, Kateryna m UKR 2472 15 1989-12-27
16 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina wg RUS 2470 40 1974-04-17
17 Qin, Kanying wg CHN 2466 6 1974-02-02
18 Kosintseva, Tatiana wg RUS 2462 29 1986-04-11
19 Krush, Irina m USA 2459 16 1983-12-24
20 Hoang Thanh Trang m VIE 2455 34 1980-04-25
21 Skripchenko, Almira m FRA 2453 40 1976-02-17
22 Gaponenko, Inna m UKR 2448 53 1976-06-22
23 Cmilyte, Viktorija m LTU 2448 8 1983-08-06
24 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan m GEO 2446 24 1968-07-19
25 Zatonskih, Anna wg USA 2445 10 1978-07-17
26 Kachiani-G., Ketino m GER 2441 21 1971-09-11
27 Foisor, Cristina Adela m ROM 2438 37 1967-06-07
28 Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman m IND 2434 8 1979-03-25
29 Radziewicz, Iweta m POL 2431 35 1981-03-16
30 Zimina, Olga wg RUS 2430 26 1982-05-14
31 Danielian, Elina m ARM 2430 24 1978-08-16
32 Peptan, Corina-Isabela m ROM 2429 23 1978-03-17
33 Socko, Monika m POL 2428 37 1978-03-24
34 Alexandrova, Olga m UKR 2423 16 1978-01-28
35 Dembo, Yelena m HUN 2423 14 1983-12-08
36 Peng, Zhaoqin m NED 2418 29 1968-05-08
37 Maric, Alisa m SCG 2418 0 1970-01-10
38 Lomineishvili, Maia m GEO 2417 32 1977-11-11
39 Xu, Yuanyuan wg CHN 2416 10 1981-03-08
40 Kosintseva, Nadezhda wg RUS 2415 27 1985-01-14
41 Sebag, Marie m FRA 2414 29 1986-10-15
42 Li, Ruofan wg CHN 2414 9 1978-04-30
43 Polovnikova, Ekaterina wg RUS 2413 4 1982-11-14
44 Repkova, Eva wg SVK 2411 18 1975-01-16
45 Medvegy, Nora wg HUN 2407 22 1977-03-29
46 Moser, Eva m AUT 2406 22 1982-07-26
47 Zaiatz, Elena wg RUS 2405 27 1969-06-16
48 Jackova, Jana wg CZE 2403 21 1982-08-06
49 Zielinska, Marta wg POL 2402 31 1978-01-30
50 Dworakowska, Joanna m POL 2402 30 1978-10-21
51 Pogonina, Natalija wm RUS 2402 25 1985-03-09
52 Slavina, Irina m RUS 2402 22 1979-08-10
53 Prudnikova, Svetlana wg SCG 2402 0 1967-03-18