09.01.12 | 10:56
Chess: Armenia’s Aronian climbs to record high on FIDE rankings

The New Year has brought some good news for Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian who learned from the January 2012 FIDE rankings that he is currently the second best chessman in the world.

The second rank on the top 100 player list released by international chess’s governing body every second month is a record-high position for the 29-year-old Armenian who had stayed in third place ever since breaking the 2800 rating barrier in November 2010 (to become the sixth player ever to have crossed the mark).

With his current 2805 rating Aronian is 30 rating points behind the top-ranked player Magnus Carlsen from Norway and is four points clear of third-placed ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik from Russia.

The latest Top 100 player rankings of FIDE (www.fide.com) also include Armenian grandmasters Sergei Movsesian (position 43; rating 2700), Vladimir Akopian (position 64; rating 2685) and Gabriel Sargissian (position 66; rating 2683).

The FIDE Top 100 female players list includes three Armenian grandmasters. The highest rank among them is held by Elina Danielian (position 20: rating 2490), followed by Lilit Mkrtchyan (in 31st place, rating 2458) and Lilit Galojan (in 97th place; rating 2366). Hungary’s Judit Polgar tops the rankings with a rating of 2710.

In the list of 125 chess nations ranked by the average rating of their top 10 players Armenia has improved by one position over the November listing and is currently in fifth place (average rating 2657; has 33 grandmasters and 22 international masters; ‘total titled’ – 84).

The FIDE nations rating list is topped by Russia (2748), followed by Ukraine (2693), France (2661) and Hungary (2657).

Source: http://armenianow.com

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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