Anand slips to 3rd rank in FIDE

Viswanathan Anand slipped to third position in the FIDE rankings after Bulgarian Veselin Topalov became only the third player in history to cross the magical 2800 ELO mark according to the new rating list issued by FIDE on the new-year.

From Indian perspective, former World Junior champion P Harikrishna and Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran covered some ground and moved within the top 30 of the world as per the new list. While Harikrishna is ranked 28th on 2673 points, Sasikiran is 30th on 2670 points.

Anand's slight slip to the third place was anticipated after Topalov's heroics in the last World championship match tournament wherein the Bulgarian coasted to a fantastic victory ahead of the Indian.

Topalov thus emulated world's top rated Garry Kasparov of Russia and his compatriot Vladimir Kramnik who are the only other players in the history to reach the 2800 mark. In the latest list Topalov (2801) is second to now-retired Kasparov (2812) and is 9 points ahead of Anand.

The fourth spot is held by Russian Peter Svidler who gained 25 points to reach 2765. Levon Aronian of Armenia who recently won the World Chess Cup at Khanty Mansiysk in Russia is fifth in the rankings on 2752 points.

Amongst the women, Koneru Humpy became the second highest rated player behind Judit Polgar of Hungary whose position at the top of world ranking has remained undisputed for a long time now.

Humpy gained valuable ELO points during the period and is effectively the number one ranked now, as Judit Polgar never plays in any women's tournaments. Humpy also remained the top junior girl of the world on 2537 ELO points.

Humpy's rise to the second spot was mainly attributed to the fact that Xie Jun of China and Zsuza Polgar of United States lost their rankings, as they were inactive for a year now.

Also making a foray in the top 20 was S Vijayalakshmi who has not been playing any events within the country for some time now. After a successful stint in the last European circuit, GM norm holder Vijayalakshmi is number 12 on the list with 2479 points.

The top junior slot is now held by Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov on 2700 ELO points while Harikrishna is second in the list.