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Susan Polgar Captures Women’s World Chess Cup for the US

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Kasparov Set to Play in Rapid Event

Topalov Remains On Top of FIDE Rating List

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Chess Around the World

Kasparov Set to Play in Rapid Event

Former World Champion Garry Kasparov will play his first "serious" game of chess since his 2005 retirement when he plays a rapid, shuffle chess tournament in Zurich on August 22nd. Kasparov will be joined by the strongest female player in the world, Judit Polgar, along with former champions Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi.

Shuffle chess, also known as Fischerandom chess, is a variant in which the pieces are randomly placed on the first and eighth ranks. Black's pieces mirror White's, and the position of the pieces must conform to certain rules; for instance, there must be one bishop on each color, as in the normal starting position.

While the event is mainly an exhibition, and the competitors will not be playing traditional chess, there will still be much interest in the quality of Kasparov's play after over a year away from the board. While the mood will be light, Kasparov expects all the participants to be in top form.

"Despite the festive occasion and the surplus of gentlemanly gray hair on the stage," Kasparov said, "I don't expect young Judit will be the only one with fighting spirit at the board." A complete Q&A with the former champion can be found on Credit Suisse's website. Credit Suisse is sponsoring the event, which marks their 150th anniversary.

We will provide complete coverage of this event in the coming weeks.

Topalov Remains On Top of FIDE Rating List

Veselin Topalov widened his lead over second place Viswanathan Anand on the latest FIDE rating list. Topalov gained nine points to move to 2813, while Anand dropped 24 points to 2779. Topalov's new rating is also significant because he has now surpassed Garry Kasparov's final rating of 2812.

Levon Aronian (2761) remains comfortably in third, gaining five points since the last list. The biggest mover near the top of the list is World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (2743), who gained 14 points and now sits in fourth. Peter Svidler (2742) rounds out the top five, with Peter Leko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams, Alexander Morozevich and Borris Gelfand rounding out the top ten.

Ruslan Ponomariov was the only player to fall out of the top ten, moving from 6th to 13th.

Five Americans have places in the top 100 list. Gata Kamsky (2697) is the top American, coming in at 20th in the world. Behind him are Alexander Onischuk (38th, 2668), Yasser Seirawan (71st, 2638), Hikaru Nakamura (78th, 2632), and Ildar Ibragimov (90th, 2624).

One final note of interest: the top 100 list only includes 99 Grandmasters! Surprisingly, FM Vladimir Afromeev of Russia came in at 97th with a rating of 2620 to become the only non-GM on the list.