July 1, 2009
 
 
Topalov is Ranked No. 1 again; But Does That Mean What It Once Did?!
By Dylan Loeb McClain
 
 
The official world rankings from the World Chess Federation were released July 1 and there were no surprises.
 
Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is ranked No. 1, as he has been for the last year. Viswanathan Anand of India, the world champion, is No. 2, a spot that he has occupied most of the time since April 2004 {with a period at No. 1 in 2007 and 2008}.
 
While the rankings are still important, if for no other reason than that they are often used by organizers of tournaments to figure out which players to invite to their events, they mean less than they once did.
 
One difference is that people know what the rankings will be before they are released because unofficial estimates calculate changes accurately on a daily basis.
 
But the importance of the rankings has also been diminished because the chess world is awash in parity. Lately, it seems any top player has a good chance to win a tournament in which he participates.
 
For example, at the Corus tournament in January, Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, currently No. 20, won, ahead of Magnus Carlsen of Norway, No. 3, Levon Aronian of Armenia, No. 4, and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, No. 8.
 
In March, Alexander Grischuk of Russia, No. 14, and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, No. 30, tied for first at Linares, ahead of Anand and Carlsen.
 
In May, Alexei Shirov of Spain, No. 15, won the M-tel Masters, ahead of Topalov and Carlsen, while Ivanchuk finished last.
 
Shirov followed up that triumph by finishing last at the Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky, Russia in June. The tournament was won by Alexander Motylev of Russia, No. 27, ahead of Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, No. 11.
 
Shortly afterward, Ivanchuk found his form again and won the Kings Tournament in Bazna, Romania, ahead of Shirov, Radjabov and Boris Gelfand of Israel, No. 9.
 
Such parity contrasts with the situation 20 years ago. Then, Garry Kasparov, who was world champion and ranked No. 1, bestrode the chess world. From 1981 to 1990, he won or tied for first in 15 consecutive tournaments. While he did not continue to win at such an incredible pace during the 1990’s, he still won most of the events he entered.
 
Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov’s predecessor as world champion, was almost equally dominant during his reign from 1975-85.
 
With the advances in overall chess knowledge; Derived in part, from the affordable 'rybka,' {world} chess-computer champion software; Plus the convenience and competition level, available on the Internet; It seems unlikely that anyone will ever be head-and-shoulders above the competition again.

I think the field is just very competitive. Ivanchuck's rating went from #2 to # 30 in four months, now back in the top 20...showing how dynamic the rating system is due to exposure of playing...Anand has always picked and chose his tournaments, same with Kramnik, and Leko. Shirov plays a lot of games too so his rating moves around.
 
Look at the effect of the exposure of play to the variability of ratings....Gelfand got the best of that playing a lot of good games lately...Morozevich took a few beatings so hasn't played in a while ---just in case he slips some more.
 
live ratings list re-calculated after after tournament game:
 
Live Ratings