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Topalov Tops Latest FIDE Ratings List

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Chess Around the World

Topalov Tops Latest FIDE Ratings List

After a year of inactivity, Garry Kasparov finally dropped off the FIDE Rating list, leaving Veselin Topalov as the official #1 rated player in the world. His rating of 2804 is just one point better than Viswanathan Anand (2803), marking Anand's first time over the 2800 barrier. Anand is just the fourth player in history to break the 2800 mark, joining Topalov, Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik.

The gap between the top two and the rest of the world continues to grow, with Anand being nearly 50 points ahead of the third place player, Levon Aronian (2756). Aronian moved up two spots from his previous ranking of fifth. Peter Svidler (2743) retained his 4th-place spot thanks to Kasparov's retirement despite losing over 20 rating points since January. Peter Leko (2738) passed Kramnik to move into the top five once again.

Ruslan Ponomariov (2738), Alexander Morozevich (2730), Kramnik (2729), Boris Gelfand (2727) and Vassily Ivanchuk (2723) round out the top ten.

Five American players made appearances in the latest top 100 list. Gata Kamsky (2671) continues to be the top-rated American despite falling to 32nd in the world. Hikaru Nakamura (2664) gained 20 points and 23 spots in the rankings, coming in at 42nd in the world. Alexander Onischuk (2650) is ranked 57th, Ildar Ibragimov (2637) comes in at 75th, and Yasser Seirawan (2635) is 77th.

For the complete April ratings list, visit FIDE's official site by clicking here.