Anand is nine points behind Topalov

New Delhi: Viswanathan Anand slipped to third position in the Fide rankings after Bulgarian Veselin Topalov became only the third player in history to cross the magical 2800 Elo mark, according to the new ratings list issued by Fide on Monday.

From an Indian perspective, former World Junior Champion P. Harikrishna and Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran covered some ground and moved within top 30 of the world. Harikrishna is ranked 28th on 2673 points, while Sasikiran is 30th with 2670 points.

Anand’s slight slip to third spot was on expected lines after Topalov’s heroics in the last World Championship, wherein the Bulgarian coasted to a fantastic victory ahead of the Indian.

Topalov thus emulated Garry Kasparov of Russia and his compatriot Vladimir Kramnik, the only other players to reach the 2800 mark. In the latest list, Topalov (2801) is second to now-retired Kasparov (2812) and nine points ahead of Anand.

The fourth spot is held by Russian Peter Svidler, who gained 25 points to reach 2765. Levon Aronian of Armenia, who recently claimed the World Chess Cup title at Khanty Mansiysk in Russia, is fifth on 2752 points.

Amongst women, Koneru Humpy became the second highest-rated player behind Judit Polgar of Hungary, whose position at the top of world rankings has remained undisputed for a long time now. Humpy gained valuable points and is effectively the No.1 in world now as Polgar never plays in any women’s tournaments. Humpy also remained the top junior girl of the world with 2537 Elo points.

Humpy’s rise to the second spot was mainly due to the fact that Xie Jun of China and Zsuza Polgar of the US lost their rankings as they are inactive for an year now.

Also making a foray into the top 20 was S. Vijayalakshmi, who has not been playing any events in the country for some time. After a successful stint in the last European circuit, GM norm holder Vijayalakshmi is number 12 on the list with 2479 points.