Anand tops the July 2007 FIDE ratings

Top 100 Players July 2007

A first version of the July 2007 list appeared on June 30, but obviously contains some obvious errors. For instance two players named Michael Adams appeared in the top 30, which led one wag in the Dortmund tournament to speculate whether Micky had been allowed to deposit his losses in an off-shore account ("But even his losses are enough to get the account a 25th place in the ratings!"). As expected it took less than 48 hours for FIDE to correct everything and provide a new list, which we now proudly present.

In the corrected list Topalov has gained one more point to precisely equal Vladimir Kramnik – both were 2772 on the previous list and have shed three points. Topalov did this in ten games he played in the interim period, Kramnik in one game, a Dutch league draw against the lower-rated Jan Smeets. As in the previous list Topalov appears on place two, probably because the larger number of games breaks the tie. Of course Kramnik has just won a bunch of points in Dortmund and will narrow the gap to Anand by about 11 points in the next list. Anand has gained six points and is now in a Kasparov-like position of being 23 points ahead of the field.

The really big winner in this list is Vassily Ivanchuk, who gained 33 Elo points in 22 games to make number four in the world, just seven points shy of the Topalov/Kramnik duo. Previously the Ukrainian was number twelve on the list. He demoted Alexander Morozevich to place five. Peter Leko is working his way back up the list, having gained 13 points, which moved him a notch higher to place seven. Levon Aronian lost nine points to drop from place five to place eight.

Another big winner in the July list is Dmitry Jakovenko, who tained 27 points to appear for the first time ever in the top-ten slot. Alexei Shirov gained 36 to jump from his dismal place 21 to a more appropriate place eleven. Peter Svidler slid further down the list, from nine to twelve, by losing a single point from seven games. We find the Mexico candidates Gelfand and Grischuk on places 13 and 14 on the July list.

A remarkable appearance on place 17 is Magnus Carlsen, who has broken the 2700 barrier at the age of 16 – almost certainly an all-time record. China's Wang Yue has gained 40 points in the last three months to climb from place 50 to 22.

Garry Kasparov still holds the record for topping the list 23 times. He had the highest Elo rating in the world continuously from 1986 to 2005, the only exception being when Kramnik equalled him in the January 1996 FIDE ratings list. Kasparov was still ranked no. 1 in the world at the time of his retirement from competitive chess in March 2005. His highest rating ever was in 2851 in the July 1999 list. This has never been achieved by any other player.

Top 50 Women July 2007

In the women's section we see Judit Polgar, as always, way ahead of the field. Talking about Kasparov's record, Judit has been the top female player 28 times in a row now. Meanwhile India's Koneru Humpy is slowly working her was up. In the current list she is "only2 135 points behind Judit, in the previous list it was 152 points. China's wonder girl Hou Yifan, who turned 13 at the end of February, is already number four in the world. Note that there are seven Chinese players in the top 50, nine Russians, four Ukraines and Georgians, and three Indians.

Top 20 Juniors July 2007

In the previous list we had noted that FIDE had not included Koneru Humpy's name in the "Top 20 Juniors" list, although she fully satisfied the requirements for designation as a junior (born 19 days after Teimour Radjabov). In the July list FIDE has rectified this omission and Humpy appears on place 19 in the world.

Top 20 Girls July 2007

Naturally this list is dominated by Koneru Humpy, who tops it for the 21st time, followed by Hou Yifan, who is destined to give Humpy a run for her money. Note that India also has a word to say in this list, with IM Harika Dronavalli creeping up on the leading two.

Lists and data by courtesy of FIDE