World's Top Women: July 2011

Elina Danielian (susanpolgar.blogspot)

The latest rating list for women is out with the top pair, Judith Polgar and Humpy Koneru, both inactive. Hou Yifan has been out of form and has dropped significantly but maintains third place ahead of the Kosintseva sisters. The biggest riser of late has been Elina Danielian who has gained an astonishing 90 rating points in a year!

Along with Danielian, other players who have their career highest at present are Anna Muzychuk and Viktorija Cmilyte, who are both edging their previous best by one point.

Muzychuk is now sixth, her highest ever position, whereas European Women's Champion Cmilyte has gained several places in the table.

Antoaneta Stefanova has started to move back up after a shaky few months. There are no new 2500s, and one player has slipped below that mark: Alexandra Kosteniuk who heads the second table featuring the 'almost 2500s.

Ranking	Previous Ranking	Name	Country	Age	Current Rating 1/7/11	Rating 1/5/11	Rating 1/3/11	Rating 1/1/11	One year ago	Career Highest
1	1	Judit Polgar	HUN	34	2699	2699	2686	2686	2682	2735
2	2	Humpy Koneru	IND	24	2614	2614	2607	2607	2600	2623
3	3	Hou Yifan	CHN	17	2575	2612	2602	2602	2577	2612
4	4	Nadezhda Kosintseva (IM)	RUS	26	2560	2567	2567	2552	2551	2576
5	5	Tatiana Kosintseva	RUS	25	2557	2559	2559	2570	2562	2581
6	8	Anna Muzychuk (IM)	SLO	21	2538	2537	2528	2529	2527	2538
7	6	Nana Dzagnidze	GEO	24	2537	2557	2567	2550	2498	2567
8	9	Kateryna Lahno	UKR	21	2536	2530	2531	2518	2535	2539
9	15	Viktorija Cmilyte	LTU	27	2528	2504	2526	2526	2527	2528
10	13	Antoaneta Stefanova	BUL	32	2524	2506	2523	2546	2560	2560
11	7	Anna Zatonskih (IM)	USA	32	2522	2537	2499	2493	2470	2537
12	14	Elina Danielian	ARM	20	2521	2506	2475	2454	2431	2521
13	12	Wenjun Ju (WGM)	CHN	20	2515	2511	2519	2514	2496	2524
14	11	Dronavalli Harika (IM)	IND	20	2513	2520	2524	2520	2504	2525
15	16	Marie Sebag	FRA	24	2510	2504	2489	2489	2519	2533
16	17	Maia Chiburdanidze	GEO	50	2500	2500	2502	2502	2514	2560

US chess fans will notice that Anna Zatonskih has slipped back slightly after her meteoric rise in May, but Irina Krush is now back in the top twenty. The other player new to this table is Bela Khotenashvili who is also within one more good result of achieving 2500.

Ranking	Previous Ranking	Name	Country	Age	Current rating 1/7/11	Rating 1/5/11	Rating 1/3/11	Rating 1/1/11	One Year ago	Career Highest
17	10	Alexandra Kosteniuk	RUS	27	2497	2522	2503	2498	2519	2540
18	18	Alisa Galliamova (IM)	RUS	39	2492	2492	2497	2497	2482	2560
19	19	Monika Socko	POL	33	2490	2487	2495	2489	2477	2505
20	28	Irina Krush	USA	27	2487	2469	2472	2483	2476	2495
21	27	Bela Khotenashvili	GEO	23	2487	2470	2465	2440	2423	2487
22	20	Valentina Gunina	RUS	22	2487	2487	2472	2471	2462	2487
23	21	Zhu Chen	QAT	35	2485	2485	2506	2495	2476	2548
24	23	Ruan Lufei (WGM)	CHN	23	2479	2479	2480	2480	2480	2499
25	22	Xu Yuhua	CHN	34	2477	2480	2484	2484	2488	2517

If we compare the ratings, from different lists, of the 25th highest rated women in the world, one notices a gradual rise in strength.

In July 2011, Xu Yuhua in 25th place has 2477. Twelve months previously, the player in the same position had 2476 (one point less).

Similarly, in 2009 it was 2470, and going further back, in 2006 only 2456 and finally ten years ago in 2001, just 2445.

No profound conclusions, just an observation!

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