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The April FIDE Rating list is now available for download at the FIDE website. GM Garry Kasparov's uninspired play in the past six months have resulted in a 17-point drop (2830). Despite a strong performance at XX SuperGM Linares, Vladimir Kramnik tumbled out of the 2800-club, dropping a boatload of points (2789, -18). Viswanathan Anand (2764, +11), continues his climb and will probably eclipse a personal best when the next rating list emerges. The world's hottest player is Hungary's Peter Leko and he is now at #4 (2746, +10). Veselin Topalov remained in the top five (2735, -8) while Alexei Shirov has moved back into the top five (2735, +12).
Judit Polgar widened her lead as the strongest women by an amazing 165 ELO points and continues her ascent at 2715 up the ELO ladder (+15). Koneru Humpy (2496) continues to lead the girls' list and is at the #5 position on the women's charts. Top Juniors include FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov (2718, -16) and Alexander Grischuk (2701, -11). Both have had inconsistent results in recent high-level tournaments. An interesting note is that the Azerbaijani national team touts four of the world's top junior players: Teimour Radjabov (age 16 at 2644), Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov (age 18 at 2607), Vugar Gashimov (age 16 at 2579), Farhad Tahirov (age 16 at 2576). These four young men led Azerbaijan to the Chess Olympiad in Bled.
In Africa, Morocco's Hichem Hamdouchi tops the charts (2605, -10) well ahead Algeria's Aimen Rizouk who also dropped 10 points (2499). Egypt has the largest concentrations of Africa's top players with Fouad El-Taher leading the country at 2493. Both Amon Simutowe (2411, +3) of Zambia and Watu Kobese (2404) of South Africa are the top players south of the Sahara. In the Caribbean, Cuba's Lázaro Bruzón (2610, -3) and Lenier Domínguez (2603, +1) lead the charge while Kevin Denny (2319) remains the highest rated player from the English-speaking Caribbean. In North America, the top player of African descent is Maurice Ashley (2465, -20). After clinching his IM title, Stephen Muhammad is now flirting with the 2400 barrier (2397, +29). William Morrison has not played this year and thus, remains steady (2390). Emory Tate saw a slight improvement (2353, +6) from three FIDE results. In Europe, Sweden's Pontus Carlsson (2361, -10) and France's former women's champion Raphaelle Delahaye (2198) are players of note.
FIDE Ratings (April 2003)
Posted by The Chess Drum: 6 April 2003
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