May 2012 FIDE Ratings
Levon Aronian (2825, +5) edged closer to ratings leader Magnus Carlsen (2835, +0) in the last FIDE list. Aronian gained five points in the Bundesliga while most of the top ten were inactive. Viswanathan Anand (2791, -8) actually lost points playing in the same Bundesliga league. While both Aronian and Kramnik played a thrilling six-game match, it will not be recorded until the next list.
Sergey Karjakin (2779, +13) leapfrogged two positions after leading his team in the Russian Team Championship. Hikaru Nakamura (2775, +4) picked up a few points from winning the Grand Pacific Open in Canada. Ironically, this was after implying that Fabiano Caruana (2770, +3) was picking up easy ELO points in the Reykjavik Open. The two played on the same team in the Italian League, but Caruana addressed the issue very diplomatically.
The biggest loser in the top twenty was Shahkriyar Mamedyarov (2726, -26) who withdrew from the European Championships after being sanctioned for flouting the “no draw” rules. The result was recorded as 0-0 (double loss), a rare event.
Players protesting after a double loss ruling. Shahkriyar Mamedyarov (seen smiling) committed a separate violation apparently in protest (see story). The loss was counted as an official loss and not a forfeit.
The biggest winner was Viktor Bologan (2716, +29) who has been in form lately. He scored in the Bundesliga as well as coming in joint second the European Championship. He most recently won the Tata Cuca tournament in Angola, Africa (nine GMs) so he has a few more points coming. Cuba’s Lazaro Bruzon (2711, +17) is over 2700 for the first time after a long climb.
Judit Polgar (2709, +0) had heard the footsteps of Hou Yifan (2623, -6) before the World Champion tumbled in a couple of tournaments losing more than 20 points after the successful Reykjavik Open. Hou had poor showings in the Chinese Championship and the Bangkok Open. Anna Muzychuk (2598, +15) gained a healthy clip after coming in joint first at the European Women’s Championship behind Valentina Gunina.
Ding Liren, the newest star in China.
Photo by Fan Lulu, https://sports.sina.com.cn/chess/.
On the Junior list, Caruana still leads by a healthy amount of ELO over Anish Giri (2693, -24) who is still recovering from the flogging he got at the Tata Steel and European Championships. Ding Liren (2679, +19) won his third national title and will join the Chinese team for the Olympiad in Turkey. On the girls’ list Hou Yifan is 167 points in front of Mariya Muzychuk (2456, -34) and 229 over Ananstasia Bodnaruk (2394, -18).