January ratings

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 10 January 2011)

FIDE Rating List
January 2011
Top 10

1. GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2814 (in photo)
2. GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2810
3. GM Levon Aronian ARM 2805
4. GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2784
5. GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2776
6. GM Veselin Topalov BUL 2775
7. GM Alexander Grischuk RUS 2773
8. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2772
9. GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2764
10. GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2751

Some comments:

Magnus Carlsen is back as no. 1 after his rating gains from the Pearl Spring Tournament in China and the London Chess Classic are factored in.

Sergey Karjakin gained 16 points after tying for first in two of the most powerful tournaments in 2010: the Tal Memorial followed by the 63rd Russian Championship. This was good enough to jump from nine to five.

An American is back in the top 10. GM Hikaru Nakamura gained 10 points from the Tal Memorial and the London Chess Classic and squeezed in at no. 10 from 15 previously.

On the negative side, China’s Wang Yue lost a massive 22 points and dropped out of the top 10 list.

Wesley So is at no. 64 with 2673 rating points. He is now ahead of his Vietnamese rival Le Quang Liem for the distinction of being the next Asian to reach 2700. For a while it seemed like Le Quang was a cinch for that honor, but a disastrous stint in the Asian Games where he scored 0.5/5 dropped him down to no. 79 at 2664 (from 2689).

The top 5 juniors (under 20 years old) are:

1. GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2721
2. GM Anish Giri NED 2686
3. GM Wesley So PHI 2673
4. GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2664
5. GM Sebastien Feller FRA 2657

It is refreshing to note that all of the five above are attacking players.

The former top juniors were Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin, but they no longer qualify for the list because both of them have already hit 20 years of age.

The London Chess Classic last December had a big effect on the top standings. Magnus Carlsen started off with two losses out of three, then made up for lost ground with 3.5/4 to tie for first place and winner on tie-break (most-number-of-wins rule).

Luke McShane tied for first place in London while Nigel Short crashed to last, this resulted in McShane taking over the no. 2 spot (behind Michael Adams) as the top English player ahead of Nigel.

London Chess Classic 2010
December 2010
Final Standings

1-3. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2815, Viswanathan Anand IND 2804, Luke McShane ENG 2645, 4.5/7
4-5. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2741, Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2791, 4.0/7
6. Michael Adams ENG 3.5/7
7. David Howell ENG 2611, 2.0/7
8. Nigel Short ENG 2680, 1.0/7

Carlsen’s style has really matured. During his climb up the ratings ladder he had transformed from a "promising" player to the "man to beat". His games fell under scrutiny, his weaknesses, pet peeves, favorite set-ups, all of these have been put under the microscope for his rivals to study.

It is no longer as easy to win. Apart from the fact that nowadays his opponents are all super-grandmasters, many of them are quite content to take a draw against the top seed and go for simplification.

In response to this Magnus has adjusted his openings and has adopted the English Opening, which has the virtue of retaining as many pieces as possible on the board. He can then probe his opponent’s defenses, create a weakness here, neutralize a threat there. If his opponent survives the middlegame then hopefully the weaknesses remain and the battle is rejoined in the ending. It is not a coincidence that most of Carlsen’s wins are now in the endgame.

The following game is typical.

Carlsen, Magnus (2802) -- Nakamura, Hikaru (2741) [A21]
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London Chess Classic 2nd London (4), 11.12.2010