World champion Viswanathan Anand falls to No. 4 in rankings
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN
Jan 2, 2012, 09.23PM IST
CHENNAI: The preparations for his 2012 World chess championship match against Boris Gelfand of Israel have taken a big toll on Viswanathan Anand’s ratings. The world champion finds himself below the 2800-mark for the first time in almost 20 months and nine rating lists after having graced the top two places during the period.
Anand’s loss of rating had much to do with the below-par performance at Moscow and London in the last two months. He lost 12 points, touched 2799 and is following Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the January list.
The magic mark (2800) may not be a concern for Anand but it is not often that he concedes the second and third places in the last. In fact, in the last 15 years, he has slipped below the No. 3 position only twice: in October 2008, he did so for the first time since July 1996 and now in 2012 again. The 2008 slump was also in similar circumstances when he was about to face Vladimir Kramnik in the Bonn World title match but he quickly recovered.
While Carlsen accumulated points without any difficulty gunning for the 2850-mark that only former world champion Gary Kasparov has gained in his career, Anand consistently conceded draws keeping his preparations under the carpet and playing it safe.
India’s pride in the women’s section Koneru Humpy too experienced a similar fall in the latest rating list. Humpy, who held the No. 2 spot behind Judit Polgar of Hungary for almost through the 2010-2011 lists was relegated to the third position as China’s World women’s champion Hou Yifan took the second position with 2605 points.
Top 5:
Open
1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2835,
2. Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2805,
3. Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 2801,
4. Vishy Anand (India) 2799,
5. Teimour Radjabov ( Azerbaijan) 2773
Women
1. Judit Polgar (Hungary) 2710,
2. Hou Yifan (China) 2605,
3. Koneru Humpy (India) 2589,
4. Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) 2580,
5. Kateryna Lahno ( Ukraine) 2557.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Anand is 2nd best now after Nakamura.