Anand Keeps No.1 Rank

World champion Viswanathan Anand retained the No.1 rank in the world when FIDE announced the Elo ratings for May 1, 2011 today.

The ratings of the three players in the 2800-club remained unchanged for the two month period. Anand did not play any rating game and stays on 2817 while Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian also remain unchanged without a game at 2815 and 2808.

In the given period, Anand finished third in the Amber Tournament under rapid and blindfold games. On April 9, he and his wife Aruna Anand were blessed with a baby boy.

Many top flight event like Linares have not taken place due to the economic cycles and most of the elite players did not show rating activity. The oldest player in the top 10, Vassily Ivanchuk managed to get nine games to occupy the fifth place.

Among women, Judit Polgar continues to top the chart on 2699. Koneru Humpy has gained seven Elo to reach 2614 and retain her second place. Harika dropped four Elo to reach 2520 and occupy the eleventh place.

In the country rank, India is sixth behind Russia, Ukraine, China, Armenia, France. This place is decided by the average rating of the top ten players. It will take a while for other nations to challenge Russia's 2734. India is on 2645. In Grand Masters, China is on 27 and India 24. Russia is on 204.

There are a total of 19,376 Indians in the rating file. This shows constant increase and speaks of the healthy chess activity in India