Back in 2003, Garry Kasparov and I had a discussion about the future of women’s chess (prior to world knowing who Hou Yifan was). At that time, he picked Tatiana Kosintseva as the most talented up and coming talent. I on the other hand picked Anna Muzychuk, a young player who was relatively unknown back then. Anna now has become a force to be reckon with. She finally broke 2600 and she is still growing as a chess player.
Humpy just tied for first (ahead on tiebreaks) with Anna at the recent Women’s Grand Prix. She is working her way back to 2600 as well. It is an exciting time for women’s chess.
Top women
| Rank | Name | Title | Country | Rating | Games | B-Year |
| 1 | Polgar, Judit | g | HUN | 2709 | 0 | 1976 |
| 2 | Hou, Yifan | g | CHN | 2617 | 15 | 1994 |
| 3 | Muzychuk, Anna | g | SLO | 2606 | 14 | 1990 |
| 4 | Koneru, Humpy | g | IND | 2598 | 11 | 1987 |
| 5 | Zhao, Xue | g | CHN | 2556 | 19 | 1985 |
| 6 | Dzagnidze, Nana | g | GEO | 2547 | 0 | 1987 |
| 7 | Lahno, Kateryna | g | UKR | 2537 | 15 | 1989 |
| 8 | Gunina, Valentina | m | RUS | 2533 | 3 | 1989 |
| 9 | Kosintseva, Tatiana | g | RUS | 2530 | 11 | 1986 |
| 10 | Cmilyte, Viktorija | g | LTU | 2525 | 11 | 1983 |
| 11 | Sebag, Marie | g | FRA | 2521 | 0 | 1986 |
| 12 | Ju, Wenjun | wg | CHN | 2518 | 21 | 1991 |
| 13 | Kosintseva, Nadezhda | g | RUS | 2516 | 11 | 1985 |
| 14 | Zatonskih, Anna | m | USA | 2512 | 9 | 1978 |
| 15 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | g | BUL | 2505 | 16 | 1979 |
| 16 | Khotenashvili, Bela | m | GEO | 2505 | 11 | 1988 |
| 17 | Harika, Dronavalli | g | IND | 2499 | 8 | 1991 |
| 18 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | m | GER | 2493 | 5 | 1985 |
| 19 | Zhu, Chen | g | QAT | 2491 | 0 | 1976 |
| 20 | Cramling, Pia | g | SWE | 2486 | 3 | 1963 |
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Hou Yifan is still a baby of this women group.
Kasparov smells money the best. He knows where to find it.
this is just a reflection of the elo ratings being inflated.. i don’t think has anything to do with an increase in skill level of the players.. there is no way some players should rated as highly as they are..
She’s a tricky player. She won the games she should have against low rating players. But she hasn’t shown the real deal when she plays against top female players.