FIDE May ratings – Aronian ten points behind Carlsen

FIDE March 2012 – Top 100 Players

Levon Aronian is slowly crawling up the ladder and is now just ten points behind the dominant leader Magnus Carlsen. The Armenian is different: no wunderkind he. In fact the 29-year-old Aronian did not even break 2600 until he was twenty. Another aspect that strikes us when looking at the list exactly five years ago: at that time there were precisely twenty players rated 2700 or more, and today there are … 45! And in fact in the last two months since the last ratings list, these 45 players have gained 239 Elo, and lost 72, for a net 167 Elo gain. The subject of rating inflation will remail a topic of discussion by experts.

Top climbers

In the previous list there were twelve top players who had gaine ten or more points. This time it is twenty. And what climbers they be! Viktor Bologan has gained 29 points in a two-month period, Laurent Fressinet 22 and Ivan Sokolov 27. Sergey Karjakin's 13-point advance puts him in place six of the world rankings, but still 56 points behind his "twin" prodigy, the boy from Tønsberg.

Top descenders

We studiously avoid the inappropriate term "losers". This time the biggest descents were recorded for top GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, who shed 26 points and dropped from place 13 to 22 in the world rankings. We will bet you a silver shilling that "Shakh" will regain most of the lost points in the coming months. An even more precipitous descent was suffered by Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen, the gentle giant who so capably seconds World Champion Vishy Anand. Dutch talent Anish Giri attributes his 24-point crash to "projects and other stuff relating to school."

FIDE Top 100 Women March 2012

Chinese GM Hou Yifan, 18, has lost 16 points in the last two-month period, but still remains the second highest ranked player in chess history. Perhaps she is playing too much and devoting insufficient time to studying the game. In third place in the women's rankings is now Ukrainian-Slovanian GM Anna Muzychuk, who overtook India's Koneru Humpy and is on the path to becoming (correct us if we are wrong) the fourth female player ever to break into the 2600+ club – after Judit Polgar, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy.

FIDE Top 20 Juniors March 2012

In the junior section US-Italian GM Fabiano Caruana now leads by 77 points. 19-year-old Chinese GM Ding Liren is on a steep climb, and if he continues to win the national championship every year – he did it in 2009, 2011 and 2012 – he is bound to join the 2700 group shortly.

FIDE Top 20 Girls March 2012

In the girl's list Hou Yifan is 167 points ahead of her nearest rival, IM Mariya Muzychuk (sister of Anna), who in turn is 62 points ahead of the number three girl, IM Anastasia Bodnaruk. It is nice to see a Peruvian player, IM Deysi Cori, in fourth place.

 Lists and data by courtesy of  FIDE