Ratings and 2007 highlights

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso

VLADIMIR Kramnik gained 14 points and Anand lost two and for the first time, we have a tie at the top. Topalov gained 11 to move to third, while my favorite Ivanchuk lost a massive 36 points to drop to ninth.

Morozevich and Svidler also stood tall, while the semifinalists of the World Cup—Kamsky, Shirov, Carlsen and Karjakin—moved up the ladder. The biggest gainer is Ivan Cheparinov with a massive 43 Elo to place 19th.

Top 10. 1.) Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 32, 2799) 2.) Viswanathan Anand (India, 38, 2799) 3.) Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 32, 2780) 4.) Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 30, 2765) 3.) Peter Svidler (Russia, 31, 2763) 6.) Shakhrivar Mamedyaroy (Azerbaijan, 22, 2760) 7.) Alexie Shiroy (Spain, 35, 2755) 8.) Peter Leko (Hungary, 28, 2753) 9.) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 38, 2751) 10.) Levon Aronian (Armenia, 25, 2739)

We now have another woman who gained super GM status, Koneru Humpy, while the Chinese have four of the top 10 excluding Chen Zhu, who is now a Qatari by marriage.

Top Women. 1.) Judit Polgar (Hungary, 31, 2707) 2.) Humpy Konery (India, 20, 2612) 3. Jun Xie (China, 27, 2574) 4.) Chen Zhu (Qatar, 32, 2548) 5.) Yifan Hou (China, 13, 2527) 6.) Pia Cramling (Sweden, 44, 2524) 7.) Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 23, 2523) 8.) Xue Zhao (China, 22, 2517) 9.) Marie Sebag (France, 21, 2510) 10. Yuhua Xu (China, 31, 2500)

Top 10 Philippines. 1.) Rogelio Antonio Jr. (45, 2529) 2.) Wesley So (14, 2526) 3.) Mark Paragua (23, 2521) 4.) Eugenio Torre (56, 2519) 5.) Darwin Laylo (27, 2508) 6.) Rogelio Barcenilla (2503) 7.) Joseph Sanchez (37, 2492) 8.) Oliver Dimakiling (27, 2484) 9.) John Paul Gomez (2469) 10.) Roland Salvador, (25, 2462).

World Cup. Gata Kamsky, originally from Russia and an immigrant to the US since the 1990s, won the 2007 World Cup without losing a single game. To recall, he retired from active chess in 1997-2004 to concentrate on his studies as a lawyer.

As the World Cup winner, he will challenge former champion Veselin Topalov some time next year in an eight-game match. The victor will then play the winner of the Kramnik-Anand match in 2009 to complete the cycle.

He won against Adly Ahmed of Egypt (1.5-.5); Boris Avrukh of Israel (1.5-.5); Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria (1.5-.5); Peter Svidler (2.5-1.5),Ruslan Ponomariov (1.5-.5); Magnus Carlsen and finally, Alexei Shirov (2.5-1.5).

World Championship. The World Chess Championship took place in Mexico City last Sept. 13 to 30 among the following players in a double round robin format:

1.) Anand of India (2792) 2. Aronian of Armenia (2750) 3.) Boris Gelfand, of Israel (2733) 4.) Alexander Grischuk of Russia (2726) 5.) Vladimir Kramnik of Russia (2769)


6.) Leko of Hungary (2751) 8.) Alexander Morozevich of Russia (2758) 8.) Peter Svidler of Russia (2735).

Anand won the championship by drawing both his games versus Gelfand, Leko and Kramnik, while snatching a win against Svidler Aronian, Morozevich and Grischuk.

For the first time since 1993, we have an undisputed champion.

New Pinoy GMs. It has been a long time since we produced a grandmaster and we did even better by having two GMs last year.

In 2006, Darwin Laylo picked up two GM norms, the first from the 2006 Malaysian Open and the second at the 2006 Bad Wiesse tournament in Germany. His third and final norm came in the 2007 Asian Chess Championship in Mandaue City.

Wesley So is only 14 years old and is the youngest GM in the world today. He got his first GM norm in the Offene Internationale Bayerische Schaha Meisterschaft, Bad Wiessee, Germany and his second norm in the 2007 World Junior Chess Championship in Armenia. He achieved his third and final norm in the 3rd Prospero Pichay International Open in Manila.