Fide Rankings : Anand leads April 2008 FIDE ratings, Carlsen fifth , Aronian Sixth

The World Champion gained four points to cross the 2800 mark and top the rankings alone. Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov shed points to move to second and fourth; Alexander Morozevich gained points to move to third place. But the sensation is of course Magnus Carlsen, who at 17 years and four months is in place five, just 38 points below the leader. Is this a record?

World Champion Viswanathan Anand has gained four points to cross the magic 2800 line and top the April 2008 alone (in the previous list he was equal first with Kramnik). Vladimir Kramnik shed eleven points to move to second place at 2788. Third is Alexander Morozevich who gained nine to reach 2774; fourth Veselin Topalov who lost 13 to sink to 2767.

The sensation of the list, of course, is the Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen (above), who at the age of 17 years and four months has climbed to place five in the world rankings, having gained a resounding 32 points to bring his Elo rating to 2765. Statisticians and historians need to get to work: is it the first time ever for a 17-year-old? Has anyone at that age ever approached the top rating by 38 points? Is there anything to stop this lad from becoming world champion? We for our part can only say: congrats Magnus, keep it up! You are one of the most intriguing personalities in current-day chess.

Going down the list a bit we find that Levon Aronian has gained 24 points to install himself firmly in place six. It is interesting to note that the Armenian is just two points behind Carlsen and four shy of Topalov. Other notables in the April 2008 list:

• 21-year-old Teimour Radjabov has gained 16 points to move from place 12 to place eight.
• Peter Svidler lost 17 points to drop from place five to nine (but hey, he's still in the top ten).
• Peter Leko, who is having a bad spell, dropped 12 points and two ranks to end at tenth and 2741.
• Vassily Ivanchuk, who in October 2007 was second in the world, is now number 11 at 2740.
• Alexei Shirov lost fifteen points to drop from seventh to 12th at 2740.
• Big winners are Chinese GMs Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua, who gained 17 and 23 points respectively to come in at 21st and 23rd in the world. GM Wang Hao gained 19 points to move from 48th to 34th.
• There are no women in the top 100 list – Judit Polgar has dropped out, perhaps due to inactivity (but see women's list below)?!

FIDE April 2008 Rating List

Top 53 Women April 2008

Here is where we find Judit Polgar, at the top of the Women's list. She has gained two points from 13 games played in the rating period, so we really do not understand why she is not in the main list. Probably just a glitch in the generation of the list.

In second place is the second female player in history to cross the 2600 mark, Koneru Humpy. In third, snapping at her heels, is the Chinese chess phenomenon Hou Yifan, who turned 14 just a month ago. Like Carlsen all we can say is: who is to stop this lass from becoming world champion?

Top 20 Girls April 2008

We can only repeat ourselves: guess who is the strongest girl in the world. Yifan, the chess marvel, who is 63 points ahead of Anna Muzychuk in second. Our friend Katya Lahno is closing in in third, with another favourite, Harika, in fourth place.

FIDE

Chess Interview: Judit Polgar: 'my goal is to raise my children so that they can be happy, successful '

She is far and away the strongest female chess player that ever lived.

[Note: She has always declined to play in competitions limited to females, which is why she never won the Women's World Championship.]

At times she was in the top ten of the overall world rankings, but in the last three years, due to the birth of two children, has dropped back a little in her preparation and results. But as everyone can see from her recent tournaments this remarkable lady is on the rebound.

Interviewing Judith Polgar [born July 23, 1976, in Budapest, Hungary] implies some kind of caution due to her merits she has achieved. Now she has two children aged three and one, and motherhood is the most important thing for her. She is known for having broken many clichés in a world traditionally ruled by men. She was the first person who achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of fifteen.

[Note: Bobby Fischer was the first, in 1958, when he became history’s youngest grandmaster at the age of 15 years, 6 months, and 1 day. He held the record until 1991, when Polgar broke it. When Fischer became world champion in 1972, before chess ratings “inflation,” there were 88 grandmasters. As of July, 2005, there were more than 900. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_prodigy#List_of_youngest_grandmasters]

Polgar starts playing today in the Champion's League held in Vitoria with the difficult aim of turning the tables with Veselin Topalov as the big favourite.

El Correo: What has led you to compete in the Champion's League Tournament?

Judit Polgar: I received an invitation some months ago and I thought it was very interesting. So far I had never taken part in a tournament which combines both charity and the professional side.

Correo: What are your expectations?

Polgar: I want to play well, and to achieve one of the highest scores.

Correo: What is your situation professionally?

Polgar: Currently I’m ranked number 20 in the world.

[Note: Current Rating: 2708. Highest Rating: 2735. Highest Ranking: No. 8. She is the only woman on FIDE’s Top 100 Players list.]

In the last three years my children, Hanna and Oliver, were born. I had to stop working during my pregnancy, when I gave birth and also after that. All this has led my game through a bad patch, which I’m trying to recover from. It's important to take part in this kind of tournaments so that I can work myself into the top ten again.

Correo: At the end of the 90s you stated that you would rather be happy than a star in the chess world. Do you still think the same?

Polgar: Yes, but I'm aware of the fact that playing chess is part of my happiness too. In the last years I got married and I’ve become a mother. Now I've got a stable life and I'm very happy with it.

Correo: It must not be easy to combine motherhood with such a high level of competition.

Polgar: I'm happy with both and, even if it's difficult to organise personal and professional life, I try to do my best.

Correo: Your father, Lazlo Polgar, an expert teacher, educated his daughters out of the school. He had a particular way of thinking: “Geniuses are made, not born”. Can intelligence be taught?

Polgar: Yes, I believe in what my father said. It's always important to focus on an area of education. In fact, I think it should be a compulsory subject. In Brooklyn they carried out an experiment which consisted in initiating problematic children in chess. As they improved in chess, their marks did too. This is only an example of how much can chess help.

Correo: Can playing chess help solve the everyday problems as Gary Kasparov claims in a book?

Polgar: Yes, I think that playing chess can be a good way of training your mind to face everyday life. Playing chess has many aspects that can be useful in everyday situations like planning, concentration and combinations. You learn to win but also to lose and to be creative.

Correo: Can there be a female chess revolution in this century?

Polgar: Right now the part played by women is changing everywhere. Personally, I wouldn’t look at chess from the female point of view but rather observe the evolution that it has had in every country. India and China are improving by leaps and bounds and it will be their chess players who will lead the revolution of the XXI century.

Correo: What feeling do you get when you are described as the best [female] chess player of all time?

Polgar: I’ve been playing since I was five and I have got used to the big names. It’s something I no longer consider important. It will be something to tell my grandchildren but nothing more.

Correo: Has Judit Polgar ever had any idols?

Polgar: I have never had idols in chess. As time went by I followed some players more than others, some moves, some moments...

Correo: How would you define your game style?

Polgar: I am known to be a very aggressive player, an attacker. It’s more difficult to be one when playing black, but I try to develop that aspect with them too.

Correo: Do you identify yourself with any particular chess piece?

Polgar: The knight is my favourite.

Correo: Are glances in chess really as important as they say?

Polgar: To me, chess is a psychological game and glances are a part of this personal game. But I don’t think they have the importance everybody keeps trying to give them.

Correo: What do you think about the controversy generated during the last years about whether chess is or not a sport?

Polgar: This is a question that has appeared in many countries. One can say that in the last decades chess has become more of a sport than of a science. I see it from an artistic point of view.

Correo: What kind of hobbies does a grandmaster have?

Polgar: I like nature, animals and going to the theatre a lot. But of course now that I have two children I don’t have free time and try to combine my hobbies and my family.

Correo: You have fulfilled many of your goals from getting into the world’s top ten to defeating players like Kasparov. What are your aims now?

Polgar: From a personal point of view, my goal is to raise my children so that they can be happy, successful and take care of themselves in the future. To support them all the way. Whatever they do, their mother will always be there for them. From a professional point of view, now that I have a family I choose the tournaments I play in, why and against who a lot more. I want to play chess while I’m still fascinated by it. The moment I stop having fun, I will quit this.

Translation by Aitziber Elejalde

Click here if
you like this article