Leading Ladies: May 2011

Judit Polgar: Happy with her form

At the top of the May 2011 rating list for women, as we have been accustomed to, is Judit Polgar who is on the brink of getting her 2700 status back. The competition for second place is hotting up with Humpy Koneru only two points ahead of Hou Yifan. The most notable advance is that of US Champion Anna Zatonskih who has shot up to seventh.

The top three all gained rating points, as did three other players in the top ten. The most remarkable of these being Anna Zatonskih who has gained 38 rating points, that is up from 2499 (which was her previous career best) to 2537.

Hou Yifan is the only other player above 2500 to have her career highest rating at the present time.

Ranking	Previous Ranking	Name	Country	Age	Current rating 1/5/11	Rating 1/3/11	Rating 1/1/11	One year ago	Career Highest
1	1	Judit Polgar	HUN	34	2699	2686	2686	2682	2735
2	2	Humpy Koneru	IND	24	2614	2607	2607	2622	2623
3	3	Hou Yifan	CHN	17	2612	2602	2602	2589	2612
5	5	Nadezhda Kosintseva (IM)	RUS	26	2567	2567	2552	2553	2576
6	4	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	25	2559	2559	2570	2534	2581
6	4	Nana Dzagnidze	GEO	24	2557	2567	2550	2478	2567
7	16	Anna Zatonskih (IM)	USA	32	2537	2499	2493	2470	2537
8	8	Anna Muzychuk (IM)	SLO	21	2537	2528	2529	2529	2542
9	7	Kateryna Lahno	UKR	21	2530	2531	2518	2527	2539
10	14	Alexandra Kosteniuk	RUS	27	2522	2503	2498	2519	2540
11	10	Dronavalli Harika (IM)	IND	20	2520	2524	2520	2491	2525
12	12	Wenjun Ju (WGM)	CHN	20	2511	2519	2514	2500	2524
13	11	Antoaneta Stefanova	BUL	32	2506	2523	2546	2560	2560
14	25	Elina Danielian	ARM	32	2506	2475	2454	2473	2513
15	9	Viktorija Cmilyte	LTU	27	2504	2526	2526	2514	2527
16	20	Marie Sebag	FRA	24	2504	2489	2489	2524	2533
17	15	Maia Chiburdanidze	GEO	50	2500	2502	2502	2514	2560

Two other players have managed to obtain a 2500+ rating, Elina Danielian and Marie Sebag, both of whom have been there before.

Of the remaining players in the top 25, only one gained rating points.

One name missing from the top 25 is Pia Cramling, whose indifferent form continues. The new entrant is 22-year-old Valentina Gunina from Russia who has her highest ever rating.

Finally, there are still the same number of women rated 2400 or more, 68, as on the previous list. However ten years ago there were only 39. Some people like to interpret this increase as 'Elo-rating inflation'. I personally am not convinced and believe instead that the over-riding reason is a general improvement in playing strength.

A good source of further information is the International Chess Federation site FIDE