FIDE January 2012 – Top 100 Players

Magnus Carlsen picked up a bunch of points at the Tal Memorial and the London Chess Classic and has climbed to his highest rating ever. At 2835 he is the second highest rated player in chess history, just sixteen points shy of Garry Kasparov's monumental Elo 2851 in 2000. However, Magnus will have another longer- range goal in mind: his former teacher was ranked No. 1 in the world for 255 consecutive months. Here is Magnus' rating progress over the years:

In the January list there are now three players rated higher than 2800 – and one, the reigning World Champion, rated one point below the magic mark. We see the second prodigy Sergey Karjakin creeping up towards the top, with six more points than in the previous list, and one rank higher. The top junior Fabiano Caruana has gained nine points and climbed from place 23 to 17, while the Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez Perez gained 18, shooting up from place 32 to 21.

Top gains by players

Top losses by players

FIDE Top 100 Women January 2012

In the women's BP (below Polgar) list shows Chinese World Champion Hou Yifan taking the lead from India's Humpy Koneru. Both the Kosintseva sisters and Antoaneta Stefanova have sunk a bit, the Chinese duo Ju Wnejun and Zhao Xue have gained.

FIDE Top 20 Juniors January 2012

In the junior section GM Fabiano Caruana retained the lead and is 22 points ahead of his nearest rival, Anish Giri of Holland. The two have opened a large gap to the rest of the field.

FIDE Top 20 Girls January 2012

Naturally Chinese wonder girl Hou Yifan is at the top, 22 points ahead of the very ambitious Mariya Muzychuk (sister of Anna), who has gained 23 points since the last list.

Lists and data by courtesy of FIDE