I had a look today at the FIDE Rating List for Top Women, both the most recent one, and the one for 5 years ago, in 2004. Have a look, there are now many more women above 2500 than 5 years ago (14 vs. 5).
Top Women on April 1, 2009.
There are 14 women players who are rated above the "2500" mark on April 1, 2009.
Let's compare with the rating list of 5 years ago. On April 1, 2004 only 5 women were rated higher than 2500.
There are 14 women players who are rated above the "2500" mark on April 1, 2009.
| Rank | Name | Title | Country | Rating | Games | B-Year |
| 1 | Polgar, Judit | g | HUN | 2693 | 0 | 1976 |
| 2 | Koneru, Humpy | g | IND | 2612 | 17 | 1987 |
| 3 | Hou, Yifan | g | CHN | 2590 | 29 | 1994 |
| 4 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | g | BUL | 2549 | 21 | 1979 |
| 5 | Dzagnidze, Nana | g | GEO | 2541 | 24 | 1987 |
| 6 | Muzychuk, Anna | m | SLO | 2533 | 28 | 1990 |
| 7 | Zhao, Xue | g | CHN | 2531 | 22 | 1985 |
| 8 | Cramling, Pia | g | SWE | 2528 | 37 | 1963 |
| 9 | Sebag, Marie | g | FRA | 2527 | 11 | 1986 |
| 10 | Kosintseva, Tatiana | m | RUS | 2522 | 25 | 1986 |
| 11 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | g | RUS | 2516 | 0 | 1984 |
| 12 | Chiburdanidze, Maia | g | GEO | 2506 | 11 | 1961 |
| 13 | Danielian, Elina | m | ARM | 2503 | 34 | 1978 |
| 14 | Pogonina, Natalija | wg | RUS | 2501 | 25 | 1985 |
Let's compare with the rating list of 5 years ago. On April 1, 2004 only 5 women were rated higher than 2500.
| Rank | Name | Title | Country | Rating | Games | B-Day |
| 1 | Polgar, Judit | g | HUN | 2728 | 0 | 1976-07-23 |
| 2 | Xie, Jun | g | CHN | 2564 | 0 | 1970-10-30 |
| 3 | Koneru, Humpy | g | IND | 2513 | 44 | 1987-03-31 |
| 4 | Chiburdanidze, Maia | g | GEO | 2502 | 0 | 1961-01-17 |
| 5 | Galliamova, Alisa | m | RUS | 2502 | 0 | 1972-01-18 |
I think this shows that the top world's women play significantly stronger now than they did 5 years ago. It can't be due to "rating inflation", or at least not by such a big amount, only 5 years have passed.
Women in the last 5 years have had more chances to play in strong men and women's tournaments. Also, many top women now have grandmaster trainers who help them before and during tournaments.
When I was playing the final of the Women's World Championship in Nalchik last fall, my opponent Hou Yifan had a whole team from China to support her, with 4 male Grandmasters.
I also train on a regular basis with several GM's.
Top players in the world now also have access to Chess Database programs and can follow on the web games immediately as they are played.
This and other factors have contributed to the higher level of Women's Chess during the last years.
If you have any comments about the above, please write them in the comments below.
Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
An interesting observation:
ReplyDeleteIn the rating list of 5 years ago, the top 5 players did not play any games except Koneru, who played 44 games in the previous 3-month period. And now 5 years later Koneru is almost 100 points higher, good for her!
I think the question would be "Do women play better now than 5 years ago - relative to men?". In other words, did women progress more than men during the last 5 years?
ReplyDeleteI think, women are definitely becoming better at chess as we can see from various championship results. I wouldnt be surprised if in years to come, we have a woman as the "World Chess Champion".
ReplyDelete