FIDE April 2006 Rating Lists

For the first time in decades FIDE publishes a rating list without Garry Kasparov, not at the top nor anywhere in the list. Kasparov has been removes due to inactivity, as required by the ratings conventions and announced in advance by FIDE. The above chart makes clear who the "crown princes" are: Veselin Topalov, the current FIDE world champion; and Viswanathan Anand, the former FIDE world champion and 1995 title challenger in New York of Garry Kasparov.

Topalov and Anand are almost 50 points ahead of the nearest rival, Armenian GM Levon Aronian, who has just won the Morelia/Linares tournament. In place four we find Peter Svidler, who had some very disappointing results and lost 22 points, but had enough on his account to maintain his ranking – taking into account that Kasparov vacated one place.

Five points behind Svidler are Peter Leko and Ruslan Ponomariov. The latter gained 15 points to move from tenth to joint fifth place. Alexander Morozevich gained 9 points to climb back into the top ten. Classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik lost 12 points, mainly due to illness, and dropped from sixth to eights place.

It is interesting to note, in our age of child prodigies and teenage grandmasters, that the average age of the top ten is over thirty.

Top 100 Players April 2006

Top Women April 2006

Top 20 Juniors April 2006

Top 20 Girls April 2006

All data by courtesy of FIDE (http://www.fide.com).