Topalov is the no.1 player in the world again! Anand dropped to no.5

When everyone is talking about Carlsen to be the no.1!

Bilbao Grand Slam hero, Vaselin Topalov of Bulgaria regain his status as the no.1 chess player on the planet based on the ratings points conducted by chessliverating as of September 15 2008 and possibly also emerged as no.1 when the FIDE ratings are released this coming October 1. Meanwhile, long time holder of the no.1 position and current world champion Vishwanathan of India plummeted to no. 5 spots behind Morozevich, Carlsen, Ivanchuk who occupied the no.2,3 and 4 spots respectively.

Rank	Name	Track	Rating	Change	# games	# events	Born	@ FIDE
01	Topalov	off	2790,6	+13,6	10	1	1975	id-card
02	Morozevich	off	2787,0	-1	9	1	1977	id-card
03	Carlsen	off	2786,1	+11,1	31	3	1990	id-card
04	Ivanchuk	off	2785,6	+4,6	50	5	1969	id-card
05	Anand	off	2783,2	-14,8	10	1	1969	id-card
06	Kramnik	off	2771,9	-16,1	16	2	1975	id-card
07	Aronian	off	2756,8	+19,8	23	2	1982	id-card
08	Radjabov	off	2751,5	+7,5	23	2	1987	id-card
09	Leko	off	2746,6	+5,6	16	2	1979	id-card
10	Adams	off	2736,4	+1,4	22	3	1971	id-card
11	Wang Yue	off	2735,5	+31,5	23	2	1987	id-card
12	Jakovenko	off	2733,9	+24,9	38	4	1983	id-card
13	Movsesian	off	2732,1	+9,1	12	2	1978	id-card
14	Mamedyarov	off	2731,1	-10,9	16	2	1985	id-card
15	Karjakin	off	2730,0	+3	24	2	1990	id-card
16	Kamsky	off	2728,5	+5,5	22	2	1974	id-card
17	Svidler	off	2726,5	-11,5	24	2	1976	id-card
18	Shirov	off	2725,9	-15,1	34	4	1972	id-card
19	Eljanov	off	2719,6	+3,6	26	3	1983	id-card
20	Grischuk	off	2719,1	-8,9	13	1	1983	id-card
21	Dominguez	off	2718,9	+10,9	15	2	1983	id-card
22	Gelfand	off	2718,5	-1,5	27	3	1968	id-card
23	Ponomariov	off	2718,5	+0,5	14	2	1983	id-card
24	Alekseev	off	2714,9	+6,9	30	3	1985	id-card
25	Bu	off	2714,0	+4	9	1	1985	id-card
26	Vachier-Lagrave	off	2714,0	+33	36	4	1990	id-card
27	Polgar	off	2711,0	0	0	0	1976	id-card
28	Ni	off	2710,3	+5,3	5	1	1983	id-card
29	Bacrot	off	2703,7	+12,7	29	4	1983	id-card
30	Gashimov	off	2703,4	-13,6	27	3	1986	id-card
31	Rublevsky	off	2702,3	+3,3	14	2	1974	id-card

Topalov: 'I think this is a very good time for chess'

2005-2006 FIDE World Champion talks about chess after Kasparov's retirement; also his thoughts about the wunderkid from Norway, 17 year old Magnus Carlsen, his up coming world championship match with Gata Kamsky and a New Year's present from he's girlfriend.

Interview with Yuri Vasiliev

So are you starting to feel that you are once again playing like you did in San Luis, and can crush everyone again?

I would say this: it is not always right to play for a win in every game. At certain moments I simply lose my head, as they say, I just want so much to win. And this sometimes leads to defeats. I need to control myself better.

Everyone is talking about Carlsen at the moment. What do you think of him? Who does he remind you of?

Magnus plays beyond his years. Excellent positional understanding, good endgame play. Ruslan Ponomariev, when he won the [FIDE World Championship] title at 18, had a similar style.

Kasparov made many interesting suggestions. But he also found himself up against the “united majority”. Do you miss Garry?

Strange as it may sound, I think that Garry’s retirement was a positive thing for the remaining players. The point is not that he was very strong, and retired when he could still have won the title back, but that he had always dominated all the attention of the mass media and sponsors. Without Kasparov, a tournament was of no interest to anyone. But as soon as he retired, the attention of the press, and those interested in putting money into chess, switched to the remaining players. Have you noticed how many new tournaments are springing up nowadays? This never happened in Kasparov’s day. In countries where there is a serious contender for the title, they organise tournaments to support him. When Kasparov retired, many people were afraid that interest in chess would wane, but in fact, it has grown. Read full story>>