Update on 'Extra Terrestrial Chess Life' beyond Planet World Championship 2013 + Rating Quiz

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

It's just about a week to go for the World Chess Championship 2013 in Chennai and most chess newsrooms around the world have squeezed down to reporting on the Anand - Carlsen battle ahead. But, there's life beyond the World Championship Chess Planet... and a strong one at that. 

Only Anand and Carlsen have not played any games for the latest FIDE chess ratings list released November 1, 2013. In the women's section, everyone's been busy playing except Judit Polgar, but she remains on top of the list any way with Hou Yifan 60 points away.

Top 20 Players November 2013 
Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2870 0 1990
2 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2801 6 1982
3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2793 9 1975
4 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2786 17 1987
5 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2785 17 1983
6 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2782 25 1992
7 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2777 11 1968
8 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2775 0 1969
9 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2774 6 1975
10 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2757 11 1985
11 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2756 14 1990
12 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2754 18 1983
13 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2752 14 1976
14 Adams, Michael g ENG 2752 12 1971
15 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2749 13 1983
16 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2742 12 1990
17 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2741 15 1987
18 Wang, Hao g CHN 2737 25 1989
19 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2733 9 1983
20 Giri, Anish g NED 2732 19 1994

Top 20 Women November 2013 
Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2689 0 1976
2 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2629 6 1994
3 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2618 22 1987
4 Muzychuk, Anna g SLO 2566 6 1990
5 Zhao, Xue g CHN 2565 15 1985
6 Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2556 0 1987
7 Lagno, Kateryna g UKR 2542 18 1989
8 Khotenashvili, Bela m GEO 2524 11 1988
9 Kosintseva, Nadezhda g RUS 2523 0 1985
10 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2520 10 1963
11 Ju, Wenjun wg CHN 2518 36 1991
12 Hoang, Thanh Trang g HUN 2511 11 1980
13 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2510 25 1984
14 Tan, Zhongyi wg CHN 2510 15 1991
15 Sebag, Marie g FRA 2510 0 1986
16 Gunina, Valentina g RUS 2509 24 1989
17 Cmilyte, Viktorija g LTU 2506 7 1983
18 Krush, Irina m USA 2502 0 1983
19 Pogonina, Natalija wg RUS 2499 15 1985
20 Kosintseva, Tatiana g RUS 2496 9 1986

Here's a quick quiz, for which you can find the answers on the main FIDE ratings list. But, we just have to check, whether you've been reading the ratings lists and tracking your favourite chess superstars :)

All questions based on top-20

1- Who's the oldest chess player in each section?

2- Who's played the maximum number of games this October in each section?

3- How many World Chess Champions are in the top-20 in both the lists and name them?

4- Which country has the maximum number of chess players in the top-20... think before answering this one :) 

5- What is the rating difference between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand (oops, we too have gone to the World Championship Planet. Sigh)

Enjoy finding the answers to our chess quiz. Look around Chess Blog for updates on the Carlsen vs Anand World Chess Championship and check out this nice website to browse for fun articles on the event in Chennai. 

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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