[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The rating list before the rating list

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The rating list before the rating list
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1214001336.shtml


   The next FIDE list won't come out until July 1, but thanks to Hans
   Arild Runde's [1]Live Top List, we can keep tabs on the current (if
   unofficial) ratings of all players over 2700. It's not clear that the
   just-ended [2]Aerosvit tournament will be rated in time for the July
   list (probably not, but popular pressure might make it happen), but if
   all the completed events are rated in time, the current top six looks
   like this:
   1. Anand 2798.5
   2. Carlsen 2791.5
   3. Ivanchuk 2790.8
   4. Kramnik 2788.0
   5. Morozevich 2787.9
   6. Topalov 2777.0
   As the next player is 32.9 points behind, these six clearly constitute
   the cream of the current crop. And what numbers these are! Is it
   plausible that all these players are better than Fischer at his peak?
   (I know Topalov's current rating is lower than Fischer's high, but he
   has been higher.) Or to move closer to the present day, are they the
   equal of Kasparov for a reasonable fraction of the Boss's reign? I
   wouldn't rule out a "yes" answer to either question, though I do
   expect that there has been some inflation. A definitive answer, if
   any, will probably have to come from either a player strong enough to
   make comparisons or from someone sufficiently stats-savvy.
   Conjecture, especially from the latter group, is welcome.

References

   1. http://chess.liverating.org/
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1213897475.shtml