 First Among Equals
Up to 1971, the best player in the world was first among equals. For the next decades, three players in turn took dominance: Bobby Fischer, then Anatoly Karpov, and finally Garry Kasparov. Only in recent years has parity returned to the top of the chess world, and the struggle for the #1 spot continues to become more intense.
Magnus Carlsen started the year on a high by topping the January FIDE rating list, as he earned enough points in Nanjing and London to edge out World Champion Vishy Anand, the leader of the previous list. But the March list just released shows Anand back again as No.1 by edging out the young Norwegian, as both gained 7 and 1 point respectively at Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee. And firmly establishing himself among the exclusive '2800 club' is Levon Aronian, who also increased his rating by 3 points.
The ratings rollercoaster ride that is Vassily Ivanchuk has again seen a massive jump in his rating, this time going from 9 to 5 after his demolition job of the field at the recent Gibraltar Masters. And this shows another interesting race with only 7 rating points separating places 5 through 9 - and the one to watch among this close grouping is unquestionably the young American player-of-the-moment, Hikaru Nakamura.
Click here for the latest FIDE top-100 rating list.
FIDE Top-10: 1. V Anand, 2817 (+7); 2. M Carlsen, 2815 (+1); 3. L Aronian, 2808 (+3); 4. V Kramnik, 2785 (+1); 5. V Ivanchuk, 2779 (+15); 6. S Karjakin, 2776 (=); 7. V Topalov, 2775 (=); 8. H Nakamura, 2774 (+23); 9. S Mamedyarov, 2772 (=); 10 A Grischuk, 2747 (-26).
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The Social Network and the story of how Facebook came into being may have lost out on the big Oscar prizes to The King's Speech last week in tinsel town, but there are prizes and offers galore coming soon for all in the newly revamped ICC Facebook page!
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New on Chess.FM - "Chess Talk" featuring GM Hikaru Nakamura
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John Watson
GM Nakamura |
This month (Tue., March 1) on Chess Talk with IM John Watson will be none other than man-of-the-moment, GM Hikaru Nakamura. For non-members there's a free 10 minute preview of the show. To listen in full - and all the other archived Chess.FM shows - join ICC now!
In his prodigy days, Hikaru broke every Bobby Fischer age-group record save for that of youngest US champion. But he's now matured as a player and beginning to make a big name for himself on the elite international circuit with some outstanding performances of late - and the new World #8 will be talking on the show about his recent victory at the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the best overseas win by a US player since the days of Fischer. |
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Amber Alert
The 20th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament returns to its spiritual home of Monaco soon for a farewell Jubilee Edition. It will take place at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco, from March 11 to 24, 2011.
In this final jubilee edition, the line-up includes a truly stellar grandmaster field of: World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Hikaru Nakamura (United States), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) and Anish Giri (The Netherlands).
And to bid a fond farewell to what has been a remarkable series of Amber Tournaments, each day here at ICC, the Chess.FM team will be back in action to cover every round. GMs Yasser Seirawan & co-host Ronen Har-Zvi will be joined by GMs Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin and Alex Yermolinsky ( not to mention some surprise grandmaster commentators!), who will also be providing us with a daily GOTD service.
Live coverage will start from 8:30am ICC every day (last round starting at 6:30am ICC) - check the full ICC schedule for Amber by clicking here. Book the dates of 12th-24th March in your calendars now for one farewell not to be missed!
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