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Anand, Kramnik Headline Corus Tournament

The Corus Chess Tournament, one of the most respected tournaments in the world, returns again this month with an impressive field, boasting an average rating of 2721 from its 14 participants. The tournament, taking place as always in Wijk aan Zee, will take place from January 14th through the 30th.

The field in the A section features eight of the world's top ten players, including all of the players ranked second through eighth. Judit Polgar, although currently off the FIDE rating lists due to her inactivity in 2004, would be ranked 9th if she were included.

Although he has slipped to fourth in the most recent world rankings, Vladimir Kramnik remains the world champion, and will be one of the favorites. The most popular choice for first, however, is top seed Viswanathan Anand, who won the event last year. Other contenders could include Alexander Morozevich, world #3 Veselin Topalov, former world championship challenger Peter Leko, FIDE World Championship finalist Michael Adams, former FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk and Polgar.

Unlike most top level events, the underdogs in Corus tournaments are still more than strong enough to hold their own against the favorites. The lowest rated player, Lazaro Bruzon, earned his way into the event by winning last year's B section. He is currently ranked 46th in the world, and is rated 2652 - less than 140 points lower than Anand, which shows just how tightly contested the tournament should be. English GM Nigel Short and a pair of grandmasters from the Netherlands - Ivan Sokolov and Loek Van Wely - round out the field, and all three have experience playing and winning against top ten players.

The format for this tournament is a single round robin with several rest days. We will be providing complete coverage of the Corus A section, along with reports on the competitive B and C sections, in the coming weeks.

Kasparov Remains First in Latest FIDE Rankings

Despite a disappointing result in the European Club Championships, former world champion Garry Kasparov retained both his spot as the top-rated player in the world, and the world's only rating over 2800, in the most recent FIDE ratings list.

Kasparov, who performed well in the Russian Championships to prevent a ratings freefall, lost nine points and now sits at 2804. Viswanathan Anand gained five points, climbing to 2786 and inching closer to first place.

Vladimir Kramnik's rating continued to fall, and dropped him to fourth. Rising to third without playing a game was Veselin Topalov, who now stands three points ahead of Kramnik. Peter Leko rounds out the top five with a rating of 2749.

One notable ommision at the top of the list is that of Judit Polgar. She missed all of 2004, as she had her first child, and is returning to active play this year. France's Etienne Bacrot made his first appearance in the top ten on this list, placing ninth.

Here is the complete top ten list:

Kasparov, Garry............... 2804
Anand, Viswanathan......... 2786
Topalov, Veselin............... 2757
Kramnik, Vladimir............ 2754
Leko, Peter...................... 2749
Morozevich, Alexander..... 2741
Adams, Michael................ 2741
Svidler, Peter.................... 2735
Bacrot, Etienne................. 2715
Shirov, Alexei................... 2713