Topalov tops the October 2008 FIDE ratings

Top 100 Players October 2008

It is interesting to note that no fewer than five players were in the number one spot in the "Live ratinings" since the last rating list came out. In fact Morozevich came quite close to coming out as number one on the current list without even playing in Bilbao, due to the leaders faltering there.

In third place we have Vassily Ivanchuk, who gained five points in (would you believe it) fifty games played in the three-month rating period. Magnus Carlsen follows him with a five-point gain coming from 31 games the young Norwegian played in the same period. Anand played just ten games – in Bilbao – and lost 15 points. He is followed by Vladimir Kramnik who played 16 games (Dortmung and Tal Memorial), losing a total of 16 points. You can speculate why the World Champion and his challenger, who are now separated by eleven rating points, did so poorly in the final period before their encounter at the World Championship in Bonn on October 12th.

Rising fast and furiously is Levon Aronian, who jumped 20 points from rank 12 to 7. Dmitry Jakovenko gained 28 points to rise from 24th place to 10th. And Chinese GM Wang Yue added 32 points to his account to move from 29 to 11. A real rising star is 18-year-old French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who gained 35 (yes: thirty five) points to jump from place 39 in the world to 24. He has overtaken Etienne Bacrot, who is on place 29, to become his country's top ranked player.

The most points (after Kramnik and Anand) were shed by Alexei Shirov, who lost 15 to drop from 9th in the world to 18th. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost 11 points to move from 8th to 14th, Peter Svidler lost 11 to drop from 11 to 17.

FIDE October 2008 Rating List

Top 100 Women October 2008

FIDE is now paying tribute to the increased visibility and attractivity of women's chess by listing the top hundred instead of the top fifty, as they have done so far. At the top nothing has changed: Judit Polgar leads by almost a hundred points; in second place is Koneru Humpy, who lost four points since the last list. In third place is Chinese wonder-girl Hou Yifan, just fourteen years of age, who replaces former women's world champion Xie Jun in third place.

Top 20 Juniors October 2008

17-year-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen leads by a resounding 56 points, followed by his arch-rival Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, who is just ten months older than Magnus. In third place is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who has overtaken Chinese GM Wang Hao. Our friend Fabiano Caruana, 15 years old, has gained ten points and remains in fifth place.

Top 20 Girls October 2008

Hou Yifan, naturally, leads, and that by a seventy-point margin. Anna Muzychuk has overtaken her closest rival, Kateryna Lahno, who shed 19 points to land at third. In fourth places is India's rising star Harika Dronavalli, who remains exactly at 2461 points after playing 38 games – what are the statistical odds of doing that?

Lists and data by courtesy of FIDE