TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Rating List (January 2012)
England has five players in top 100 in the world
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 12th January 2012
IM Malcolm Pein reports that England has five players in the top 100 in the world for the first time in many years with the addition of Gawain Jones rising to 97th in the World.
England has five active players ranked in the world's top 100 for the first time in many years. The FIDE rating list for January shows Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Nigel Short, Matthew Sadler and Gawain Jones are all in the elite. Jones' ascent to 2653 is very impressive and he is ranked England number five. Matthew Sadler is 2660, up from 2625, the rating he was at when he took a six year break from the game. Sadler returns to elite tournament play this weekend, after recent success in Opens, when he plays in the Wijk aan Zee C group.
Magnus Carlsen sits atop the list by a huge margin of 30 points with Levon Aronian now in second after Vishy Anand's awful year which saw him drop to 2799. Vladimir Kramnik is the third player over 2800. There are seven Russians in the top 20 and 23 in the top 100.
Top 20:
1 Carlsen Norway 2835
2 Aronian Armenia 2805
3 Kramnik Russia 2801
4 Anand India 2799
5 Radjabov Azerbaijan 2773
6 Topalov Bulgaria 2770
7 Karjakin Russia 2769
8 Ivanchuk Ukraine 2766
9 Morozevich Russia 2763
10 Gashimov Azerbaijan 2761
11 Grischuk Russia 2761
12 Nakamura USA 2759
13 Svidler Russia 2749
14 Mamedyarov Azerbaijan 2747
15 Tomashevsky Russia 2740
16 Gelfand Israel 2739
17 Caruana Italy 2736
18 Nepomniachtchi Russia 2735
19 Wang Hao China 2733
20 Kamsky USA 2732
25 Michael Adams 2724; 56 Luke McShane 2691; 71 Nigel Short 2677; 88 Matthew Sadler 2660; 97 Gawain Jones 2653
Ryan Rhys Griffiths needed a win for an IM norm in the last round of the Hastings Master but was crushed by Mark Hebden. Hebden varied on move nine from his defeat by David Howell in round three.
RR Griffiths - M Hebden
Scotch Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Bb7
(9...a5 10.f4 Qe6 11.Qe3!?Howell-Hebden and now perhaps 11...Nxc4 12.Qd4 Nd6)10.f4(10.b3; 10.Bd2)
10...0-0-0 11.Be3 c5 12.0-0-0 f6 13.Qf2 fxe5 14.f5 d6 15.Be2 Qf7 16.b3 Be7 17.Rhf1
(17.Bf3 Gives some play on the white squares)
17...e4 18.g4 Bf6 19.Kc2 Qe7 20.Rb1?! Rhe8
(20...d5)
21.a4 d5!
Black has better pieces, safer king and the centre.
Mark Hebden
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Ryan Rhys Griffiths
Position after 21...d5
22.Nxd5
(22.Bxc5 Qe5 23.Qg3 d4; 22.cxd5 Bxc3 23.Kxc3 Qe5+ 24.Kc2 Nxd5 25.Bd2 e3)
22...Nxd5 23.cxd5 Rxd5 24.Rfd1 Qe5 25.Rxd5 Qc3+ 26.Kd1 Bxd5 27.Bd2 e3 28.Bxc3 exf2 29.Bxf6
Mark Hebden
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Ryan Rhys Griffiths
Position after 29.Bxf6; Black to play and win
Answer: Bf3! 0-1
