The Week in Chess

The January 2012 FIDE Rating list has been released. Magnus Carlsen has opened up a 30 point lead over his closest rivals after picking up points in the Tal Memorial and London. Levon Aronian moves up to 2nd after gaining points in the European Teams and Tal Mem but losing in London. Kramnik more than made up losses at the Tal with his win in London to go 3rd. World Champion Anand drops 12 points to 4th after lacklustre perfomances in both of these events likely to be his last before his World Title match in May. There is a gap to the chasing pack which is led by Radjabov who lost 8 points but is still 5th. Ivanchuk lost 9 points to go 8th, Vugar Gashimov gained 4 points to enter the top 10, Hikaru Nakamura drops out of the 10 in spite of gaining a rating point in a very crowded section of the list. Notable gains: Luke McShane up 20 points from London, Baadur Jobava 26 points, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 14 points, Leinier Dominguez Perez 18 points. Notable losses: Nigel Short and Ferenc Berkes lost 21 and 23 points respectively, Michael Adams gained 13 points in the European Teams but lost 23 in London. A rating of 2652 gets you in the top 100. Full list below.