The official January 2013 FIDE (Fédération internationale des échecs) chess rating list has been published, confirming that Magnus Carlsen now has the highest ever recorded chess rating of 2861 Elo (Chess Rating System).
The 22-year old Norwegian overtakes the previous 2851 Elo record high of Garry Kasparov in 1999/2000, thanks to his winning performance at the 2012 London Chess Classic. Though he was unable to defeat the World Champion Viswanathan Anand, his remarkable performances in the tournament ensured his title.
Vladimir Kramnik’s strong performance to claim second place in the same event lifts him to number 2 on the list at 2810 Elo, pushing Lev Aronian down to number 3.
World champion Viswanathan Anand dropped one place to 7th in the latest world chess rankings. The 43-year-old lost almost three points for a tally of 2772.1.
The world’s top 10 chess players list is completed by Radjabov, Caruana, Karjakin, Anand, Topalov, Nakamura, and Mamedyarov, as the 10th position mark is at 2766 Elo.
In the women’s side Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar remains the top woman player, while the turn of the year means that Fabiano Caruana no longer qualifies as a ‘junior’ player on the ranking lists, leaving Anish Giri to inherit the position of number 1 junior in the world.
Tags: Chess, ELO, Fédération internationale des échecs, FIDE, London Chess Classic, Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, World Chess Federation