Every month, FIDE (World Chess Federation) publishes its rating list, and it was especially interesting on January 1, which is of course the start of a new year in 2019!
In the top 10, it was still very much China’s superstar Ding Liren in 4th place, at 2813. He is a genuine challenger now for the world championship, being Asia’s first player to break 2800, and in doing so went over a year unbeaten against the very best players in the world in every type of competition.
Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India continues to defy age as he reaches his 50th birthday, and is in eighth place at 2773.
The top 10 women list is absolutely dominated by Asians, with China very much on top. Hou Yifan who has stopped playing women events is a class above and holds the No. 1 spot with a rating of 2662.
No. 2 is the current World Champion Ju Wenjun who is rated 2575 and the first to hold the title in both match play and knock out formats and who recently added the Rapid Chess World Champion title to her growing list of accomplishments including anchoring the China team to Gold at last year’s Batumi Olympiad.
Indian superstar Koneru Humpy in her comeback after marriage and a child, is at No. 5 at 2541 and at No. 10 is China’s Tan Zhongyi with a 2502 rating.