Anand Regains World #1 Chess Rating

Despite finishing second in the latest super grandmaster tournament in Bilbao, Spain, world champion Viswanathan Anand has regained the World #1 ranking he had previously lost to Norweggian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen.


Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik finished first, with Anand second, Carlsen 3rd and Shirov fourth, at the 2010 Bilbao Masters Final; the chess tournament had the highest average participant rating of all time.

Carlsen has had a bit of a dip lately, losing rating points to fall to 2802, while Anand's rating is now at 2803. They are the only active players to be above 2800 rating. A Super grandmaster (unofficial title) rating is considered to be around 2650.

Carlsen Reaches 2nd Highest Chess Rating Ever At 2830

Magnus Carlsen, the World's #1 returned to tournament action after a three month lay-off during which Viswanathan Anand defended his World Chess Championship and crushed the competition at the King's Tournament in Romania by winning 5 and drawing 5 games for a ridonculous 2918 performance rating. The result will extend Carlsen's already top-ranked rating to 2830.

That is the second highest rating in history. Only former World Champion (and Carlsen mentor) Garry Kasparov has ever been ranked higher, at 2851 (back in 1999). Carlsen is only 19 and still improving. Some commentators believe his actual rating may end up exceeding 2900.

Anand-Topalov World Championship Tied 1.5-1.5

The world chess championship between 35-year-old Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India, 40, began on Sunday in Sofia and surprisingly the first two games have ended decisively (most super-grandmaster matches are draws). You can see Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 online.

Both players have been ranked World #1 and achieved stratospheric ratings of above 2800 (most super grandmasters have ratings around 2650-2750 and only 5 people have ever exceeded 2800) but Norwegian phenom Magnus Carlsen has recently become the youngest player to top the rankings.

The match is taking place in Topalov's home town and he is currently slightly higher rated (2805 to 2787) with a +1 advantage in the forty-four games they have played against each other (23 draws). Most expect Topalov to win, but I have my money on Anand.

Go, Vishy!

Carlsen Tops World Chess Ratings With 2810

1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2810	16	1990
2	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2805	4	1975
3	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2790	9	1969
4	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	16	1975
5	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2781	17	1982
6	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2761	25	1968
7	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2759	21	1986
8	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2749	13	1969
9	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2749	8	1987
10	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2744	27	1976

The January 1, 2010 FIDE rating list is out and chess wunderkind Magnus Carlsen is at the #1 position with 2810 points ahead of former World Champion Veselin Topalov
at 2805 and current World Champion Visnwanathan Anand at 2790. Only 5 players in history have ever broken the 2800 rating barrier (Carlsen, Topalov, Anand, Kramnik and Garry Kasparov.) The top American player is Hikaru Nakamura at #28.

Happy 19th Birthday to World's #1 Chess Player, Magnus Carlsen!

Today, November 30th, is Magnus Carlsen's 19th birthday. Carlsen, the teen grandmaster from Norway is currently the World's highest rated chess player, and is also the youngest person to reach that mark.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Carlsen, who turns 19 on Nov. 30, is only the seventh No. 1-ranked player since the ranking system began in 1970. Garry Kasparov, the Russian former world champion, became No. 1 in January 1984, when he was 20 years and 9 months old. He held the spot for 18 months, lost it, and then regained it and held it for 20 consecutive years before retiring in March 2005.

The other players to be No. 1 are all former world champions, including Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand.

Rankings are based on cumulative performances, measured by something called a rating. Mr. Carlsen’s rating is now 2,806, and Mr. Topalov’s is 2,805. Mr. Anand, 39, the current world champion, finished in a tie for fourth in Moscow and is now No. 3, with a rating of 2,790.

Although he is the world's highest rated player, Carlsen can not become World Champion for a few years. In April, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India will play a world championship match of several games in Sofia, Bulgaria to determine the next World Champion. Carlsen is expected by many to become World Champion in the next few years.

18-year-old Becomes 5th Chess Player Over 2800 Rating

Teen chess sensation Magnus Carlsen of Norway blew away the field in Nanjing, China by winning 6 games and drawing the rest for an amazing 8 points out of 10, a full 2 1/2 points ahead of the top-ranked player in the world, Veselin Topalov. Most tournaments at this level are won by a 1/2 point or 1 point.

Carlsen's victory gives him an insane performance rating of 3002 and an actual rating of 2801, which is only the fifth time in history anyone will have had a published rating above 2800. At 18, Carlsen is far younger than Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik who have achieved this feat (and all of these players have been World Champion, with Anand currently scheduled to defend his title against Topalov in a match scheduled for next year).

Already most chess columnists are speculating on when, not if, Carlsen will become the first Western chess champion since Bobby Fischer. Interestingly, Kasparov, who retired in March 2005 from chess to focus on politics in Russia has recently been coaching Carlsen and the Norwegian's results have been spectacular ever since.

Topalov Wins Super GM Tournament and Regains #1 Ranking

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria placed first at the Grand Slam Final Masters tournament in Bilbao, Spain, winning 150,000 Euros (over US$200,000) by winning 4 games, drawing 5 and losing only once (+3). World Champion Viswanahan Anand had one of his worst tournament in years, placing last with 8 draws and two losses (-2) in a field of six super Grand Masters. Danish wunderkind, 17(!)-year-old Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for second place, with Carlsen having beaten Aronian both times they played in the double round-robin tournament. The other competitors were Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.

By winning the tournament, Topalov will return to the top of the World Chess Federation rankings, which he had previously led from April 2006 until March of last year, when Anand reached #1 for the first time. Prior to March 2005, Garry Kasparov had been World #1 for nearly a decade.

Anand's poor performance may be due to the fact he was trying to hide whatever he has been preparing for his World Championship title bout with Vladimir Kramnik next month in Bonn, Germany with 1.5 million Euros at stake. Interestingly, Kramnik and Anand have played 125 times with Anand winning 19 games, losing 15 and drawing 91(!) times.

Anand Wins Linares-Morelia for 2nd Consecutive Year

This news came out a few weeks ago, but I think it's important to post here as well.

GM Viswanathan Anand of India, won the 25th edition of the Morelia/Linares super grandmaster tournament. The current World Champion, one of the two top-ranked players in the world, finished a half point (+4-1=9) ahead of GM Magnus Carlsen (Norway, +5-3=6). Carlsen, 17 years old, finished a half point ahead of GMs Levon Aronian (Armenia, +3-2=9) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, +5-4=5).

Anand Leads Linares-Morelia 2008

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand is currently leading the famous Linares-Morelia super-tournament at the halfway point by a half point with a score of 4.5/7. Last year, Anand became the world's highest rated player after he won Linares XXIV by a full point with a score of 8.5/14.

Linares is a tournament where the eight strongest players in the world are invited to compete in a double round-robin tournament (where everyone plays each other twice, once with Light pieces, and another with Dark pieces). The first seven games are played in Linares, Spain and the second half is played in Morelia, Mexico.

This year's tournament has World #3 Veselin Topalov, 17-year-old phenom World #13 Magnus Carlsen of Norway, World #9 Vassily Ivanchuk, World #10 Levon Arounian, World #8 Peter Leko, World #12 Teimour Radjabov and World #7 Alexei Shirov. Curiously, former World Champion and World #2 Vladimir Kramnik has skipped Linares for the second year in a row.

The New York Times chess blog Gambit has excellent coverage of the tournament as well as a very cool plug-in which allows one to view the games with annotations. Years ago Mad Professah used to be a chess player on the international circuit as a teenager and attended a few of the same junior tournaments as Anand "back in the day." We were usually the only two non-white people in the room.