Devangshu Datta / New Delhi Jul 04, 2009, 00:45 IST
Veselin Topaloiv maintains No 1 rating position in the July list. The Bulgarian GM is at 2813 – he's played 10 games in the past three months. World champion Anand stays at #2 with 2788 - he's played just two games (both in the Bundesliga). Magnus Carlsen at #3 also maintains his ranking comfortably.
Lower down, there are many changes. Levon Aronyan has jumped to #4 from #6 while Dmitry Jakovenko is now #5, up from #7. Kramnik and Leko are there at #6 and #7 respectively while Radjabov has slid to #8 from #5. Boris Gelfand climbs to #9 and Morozevich hangs onto tenth spot.
The big losers are Grischuk (now #14, down from #10) and Vassily Ivanchuk down to #30. This is despite their joint victory at Linares and Ivanchuk's recent win at Bazna (which will only be counted in the next list).
Harikrishna and Sasikiran remain in the top 100. Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Koneru Humpy are just outside the top 100. Humpy remains the second highest-rated woman in the world and she's improved her rating.
Junior talent, GM Parimarjan Negi's rating has stagnated at the 2590 level. This is worrying since Wesley So who is the same age (1993-born) has outpaced him to climb to 2646 and Fabiano Caruana (1992-born) has zoomed to 2670.
Fide intends to move “soon” to two-month lists, and will also change the “K-factor” in the rating calculation formula. More frequent lists should deal with complaints that results are not reflected quickly enough and the proposed K change will mean more volatility.
The Dortmund Super GM is due to start this week. Kramnik, Leko, Carlsen, Jakovenko, Bacrot, and Naiditsch play a double-rounder. Naiditsch (2697) is the only player rated below 2700 - he is also the German no:1 and defending champion. Kramnik has the best record but he is the third seed.
Last year, Dortmund featured a stunning novelty - the best of that quarter. The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Naiditsch Vs Kramnik, Dortmund 2008), saw an explosion with 19.Qd2! [the novelty – the earlier line was 19.Rf5 Rd8 20.Ne3 Qd1 21.Rd1 Rd1 22.Nd1 Ne6 23.Rb5 b6 equal] Ng6?!
Kramnik refused to test home-brewed analysis with 19...Qxe5 20.Qb4 Ke8 21.Qb5 Kd8 (21...Kf8 22.Qc5 wins) 22.Rd1 Ne2 23.Kh1 Nd4 24.Qb7 Rc8 25.h3! which is unclear, according to Naiditsch's notes. However, after Ng6, white just has a huge attack for nothing.
Play continued 20.Ree1 f6 21.Rad1 Kf7 22.Qe3! Rhe8 23.Ne7! Qe7 24.Qb3 Kf8 25.Re7 Re7 26.Qb5. White is winning now and mopped up with 26. -- Rae8 27.g3 Ne5 28.Kg2 Nc6 29.b4 a6 30.Qb6 h6 31.a4 Ne5 32.Qc5 Kg8 33.b5 ab5 34.ab5 Nf7 35.h4 Kh8 36.Rd2 Kg8 37.Kh3 Kh8 38.f4! Kg8 39.h5 Kh8 40.Qf5 Nd8 41.Rd7 Ne6 42.Qd5 (1-0).
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