Date:03/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/03/stories/2006040306381700.htm

Sport

Anand in 2800 club

New Delhi: Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand joined the ELO 2800 club in the latest FIDE ratings.

Anand, who was knocking on the 2800 door for quite sometime, finally saw it happen at the Corus super Grandmasters tournament, which he won for a record fifth time in January.

The Indian ace began the event with 2792 points and gained 11 points to breach the landmark, but missed the top rank by just one point.

The top spot was vacant after the removal of world's top rated and now-retired Garry Kasparov's name from the active players' list.

Kasparov had announced his retirement from professional chess at the Linares tournament last year while on top of the world rankings. However, since his inactive period surpassed one year, Kasparov's name was removed from the rating list.

World champion Veselin Topalov, who had a real hard time in the Linares tournament, which Anand missed, grabbed the top spot.

After a real tough start, Topalov clawed back in the tournament with some late onslaught that not only kept him in the 2800 club, but pushed him to the top spot with 2804 points in the quarterly list.

Sasikiran moves up

GM Krishnan Sasikiran was a notable gainer with 2692 points and is the second best Indian. P. Harikrishna, on 2680 points, is the third best Indian. — PTI