The rating list of the World Chess Council has been published online, in Spanish, at http://www.ciudadfutura.com/superajedrez/wccworld.htm .
This list is reformatted below. In addition, this list is available in rating order at htttp://www.samsloan.com/jan1999.htm
All players rated 2500 and higher by the World Chess Council are included in this list.WCC World Chess Rankings are produced by the World Chess Council, Luis Rentero Sancez, Linares, Spain and Ken Thompson, New Jersey and are calculated by Vladimir Dvorkovich, Moscow, Russia.
The most notable change from the pervious list is that FIDE “World Champion” Anatoly Karpov has fallen to number 15 on the list. Karpov defended his world title last year by winning a highly ill-conceived two-game blitz match against Anand, but both before and since the results of Karpov have been far below world championship caliber.
In short, nobody takes Karpov seriously as a world champion any more.
Kasparov has just suggested a match between himself and Anand for the world championship. They are clearly the two highest rated players in the world now, and such a match can be regarded as for the true world championship.
The planned match between Kasparov and Shirov for the world championship will apparently never take place because nobody takes Shirov seriously as a world championship contender and therefore no money is available.
In the list below, I have omitted the confidence numbers included on the official list. These numbers cannot be taken seriously, in my opinion, because for example on the official list Fischer’s rating has a confidence level of 197, even though he has played only once since 1972, and that was in 1992, whereas nearby Fedorowicz, who is one of the most active players in the world, has a rating confidence level of only 173.
Adams,Michael ENG 2688 Adianto,Utut INA 2584 Adorjan,Andras HUN 2517 Akopian,Vladimir ARM 2596 Aleksandrov,Aleksej BLR 2572 Almasi,Zoltan HUN 2644 Alterman,Boris ISR 2559 Anand,Viswanathan IND 2750 Anapolsky,Sergey UKR 2510 Anastasian,Ashot ARM 2547 Andersson,Ulf SWE 2578 Antonio,Rogelio Jr PHI 2513 Arkhipov,Sergey RUS 2534 Asrian,Karen ARM 2553 Atalik,Suat TUR 2524 Avrukh,Boris ISR 2532 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab GEO 2658 Babula,Vlastimil CZE 2508 Baburin,Alexander IRL 2504 Bacrot,Etienne FRA 2501 Bagirov,Vladimir LAT 2501 Baklan,Vladimir UKR 2575 Balashov,Yuri RUS 2568 Bareev,Evgeny RUS 2650 Barua,Dibyendu IND 2510 Beim,Valery ISR 2573 Beliavsky,Alexander SLO 2606 Benjamin,Joel USA 2566 Bologan,Viorel MDA 2541 Brodskij,Michail UKR 2518 Campora,Daniel ARG 2503 Cebalo,Miso CRO 2508 Chekhov,Valery RUS 2555 Chernin,Alexander HUN 2588 Chernyshov,Konstantin RUS 2505 Chiburdanidze,Maia GEO 2525 Christiansen,Larry USA 2553 Chuchelov,Vladimir RUS 2515 Comas Fabrego,Luis ESP 2509 Damljanovic,Branko YUG 2514 Dao,Thien Hai VIE 2508 Dautov,Rustem GER 2560 DeFirmian,Nick USA 2580 Degraeve,Jean-Marc FRA 2528 Dizdar,Goran CRO 2523 Djuric,Stefan YUG 2519 Dokhoian,Yury RUS 2577 Dolmatov,Sergey RUS 2597 Dorfman,Josif FRA 2558 Dreev,Alexey RUS 2617 Dvoirys,Semen RUS 2511 Dzindzichashvili,Roman USA 2544 Ehlvest,Jaan EST 2559 Eingorn,Vereslav UKR 2558 Epishin,Vladimir RUS 2542 Fedorov,Alexey BLR 2587 Fedorowicz,John USA 2550 Filippov,Valerij RUS 2578 Fischer,Robert James USA 2594 Fishbein,Alexander USA 2528 Fominyh,Alexander RUS 2551 Frolov,Artur UKR 2519 Ftacnik,Lubomir SLK 2551 Gabriel,Christian GER 2566 Galkin,Alexander RUS 2502 Galliamova-Ivanchuk,Alisa RUS 2526 Gavrikov,Viktor LTU 2535 Gelfand,Boris BLR 2690 Georgadze,George GEO 2569 Georgiev,Kiril BUL 2636 Georgiev,Krum BUL 2504 Goldin,Alexander RUS 2526 Golod,Vitali ISR 2515 Golubev,Mihail UKR 2510 Granda Zuniga,Julio E PER 2602 Greenfeld,Alon ISR 2515 Gruenfeld,Yehuda ISR 2529 Gulko,Boris USA 2564 Gurevich,Dmitry USA 2516 Gurevich,Ilya USA 2538 Gurevich,Mikhail BEL 2558 Guseinov,Aidyn AZE 2505 Handoko,Edhi INA 2501 Hansen,Curt DEN 2574 Hansen,Lars Bo DEN 2525 Har-Zvi,Ronen ISR 2506 Hasangatin,Ramil RUS 2502 Hellers,Ferdinand SWE 2583 Hernandez,Gilberto MEX 2508 Hertneck,Gerald GER 2518 Hickl,Joerg GER 2527 Hjartarson,Johann ISD 2597 Hodgson,Julian ENG 2538 Hracek,Zbynek CZE 2566 Hresc,Vladimir CRO 2501 Huebner,Robert GER 2551 Hulak,Krunoslav CRO 2529 Huzman,Alexander ISR 2550 Ibragimov,Ildar RUS 2548 Ikonnikov,Vyacheslav RUS 2509 Illescas Cordoba,Miguel ESP 2554 Ionov,Sergey RUS 2544 Irzhanov,Ruslan KAZ 2516 Ivanchuk,Vassily UKR 2675 Ivanov,Sergey RUS 2523 Kacheisvili,George GEO 2559 Kaidanov,Grigory USA 2574 Kaminski,Marcin POL 2509 Kamsky,Gata USA 2701 Kapetanovic,Armin BIH 2528 Karpov,Anatoli RUS 2664 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam UZB 2593 Kasparov,Garry RUS 2803 Kengis,Edvins LAT 2514 Khalifman,Alexander RUS 2577 Kharitonov,Andrei RUS 2551 Kharlov,Andrei RUS 2586 Khenkin,Igor RUS 2600 King,Daniel ENG 2507 Kiriakov,Peter RUS 2523 Kirov,Nino BUL 2511 Kiselev,Sergey RUS 2530 Knaak,Rainer GER 2504 Kobalija,Mikhael RUS 2532 Komarov,Dimitri UKR 2541 Korchnoi,Viktor SUI 2627 Korneev,Oleg RUS 2542 Kosashvili,Yona ISR 2585 Kotronias,Vasilios GRE 2544 Kovalev,Andrej BLR 2503 Kozul,Zdenko CRO 2572 Kramnik,Vladimir RUS 2724 Krasenkov,Mikhail POL 2614 Kudrin,Sergey USA 2507 Kuporosov,Viktor RUS 2500 Kuzmin,Alexey RUS 2558 Kuzmin,Gennadi UKR 2518 Kveinys,Aloyzas LTU 2523 Lalic,Bogdan CRO 2505 Lastin,Alexander RUS 2560 Lautier,Joel FRA 2575 Leko,Peter HUN 2693 Lerner,Konstantin UKR 2518 Liang Jinrong CHN 2504 Lin,Weiguo CHN 2518 Liss,Eran ISR 2505 Ljubojevic,Ljubomir YUG 2583 Loginov,Valery RUS 2504 Lputian,Smbat ARM 2569 Lutz,Christopher GER 2570 Magem Badals,Jorge ESP 2518 Magerramov,Elmar AZE 2604 Makarichev,Sergey RUS 2559 Maksimenko,Andrei UKR 2545 Malaniuk,Vladimir UKR 2541 Maljutin,Evgeni RUS 2506 Meister,Yakov RUS 2517 Mikhalchishin,Adrian UKR 2516 Miles,Anthony ENG 2575 Milos,Gilberto BRA 2539 Milov,Vadim SUI 2574 Minasian,Artashes ARM 2557 Morovic Fernandez,Ivan CHI 2578 Moroz,Alexander UKR 2532 Morozevich,Alexander RUS 2686 Moskalenko,Viktor UKR 2510 Movsesian,Sergei CZE 2577 Muhutdinov,Marat RUS 2511 Mukhametov,Eldar RUS 2505 Nenashev,Alexander UZB 2590 Nikolic,Nebojsa BIH 2501 Nikolic,Predrag BIH 2614 Nisipeanu,Dieter ROM 2523 Norwood,David ENG 2502 Novikov,Igor UKR 2544 Nunn,John ENG 2576 Oll,Lembit EST 2589 Onischuk,Alexander UKR 2638 Palac,Mladen CRO 2517 Peng Xiaomin CHN 2509 Peregudov,Nikolai KAZ 2512 Petursson,Margeir ISD 2547 Pigusov,Evgeny RUS 2556 Piket,Jeroen NED 2589 Pinter,Jozsef HUN 2519 Plaskett,Jim ENG 2508 Polgar,Judit HUN 2653 Polgar,Zsuzsa HUN 2592 Poluljahov,Aleksandr RUS 2507 Ponomariov,Ruslan UKR 2621 Popov,Valeij RUS 2548 Popovic,Petar YUG 2528 Portisch,Lajos HUN 2527 Psakhis,Lev ISR 2561 Razuvaev,Yuri RUS 2531 Rechlis,Gad ISR 2522 Reinderman,Dimitri NED 2536 Ribli,Zoltan HUN 2529 Rogers,Ian AUS 2531 Rohde,Michael USA 2589 Romanishin,Oleg UKR 2526 Rozentalis,Eduardas LTU 2526 Ruban,Vadim RUS 2550 Rublevsky,Sergei RUS 2650 Rustemov,Alexander RUS 2518 Ryskin,Alexandr RUS 2531 Sadler,Matthew ENG 2672 Sakaev,Konstantin RUS 2616 Salov,Valery RUS 2656 Sax,Gyula HUN 2503 Schandorff,Lars DEN 2506 Seirawan,Yasser USA 2643 Serper,Grigory USA 2517 Shabalov,Alexander USA 2544 Shariyazdanov,Andrei RUS 2518 Shchekachev,Andrei RUS 2518 Sherbakov,Ruslan RUS 2526 Shipov,Sergei RUS 2580 Shirov,Alexei ESP 2712 Shneider,Aleksandr UKR 2555 Short,Nigel ENG 2671 Slobodjan,Roman GER 2509 Smagin,Sergey RUS 2538 Smejkal,Jan CZE 2501 Smirin,Ilia ISR 2578 Socko,Bartosz POL 2510 Sokolov,Andrei RUS 2533 Sokolov,Ivan BIH 2582 Solozhenkin,Evgeniy RUS 2503 Spasov,Vasil BUL 2548 Spassky,Boris FRA 2519 Speelman,Jonathan ENG 2561 Spraggett,Kevin CAN 2508 Stangl,Markus GER 2508 Stefansson,Hannes ISD 2512 Stohl,Igor SLO 2527 Sturua,Zurab GEO 2564 Suba,Mihail ROM 2507 Sulskis,Sarunas LTU 2539 Sutovskij,Emil ISR 2596 Sveshnikov,Evgeny RUS 2504 Svidler,Peter RUS 2679 Timman,Jan NED 2631 Timoshchenko,Gennadi RUS 2502 Timoshenko,Georgy UKR 2561 Tiviakov,Sergei RUS 2586 Tkachev,Vladislav KAZ 2578 Topalov,Veselin BUL 2665 Torre,Eugenio PHI 2545 Tregubov,Pavel RUS 2530 Tseshkovsky,Vitaly RUS 2517 Tukmakov,Vladimir UKR 2517 Ubilava,Elizbar GEO 2501 Vaganian,Rafael ARM 2600 Vaiser,Anatoly V FRA 2516 Vakhidov,Tahir UZB 2510 Van Wely,Loek NED 2595 Varga,Zoltan HUN 2511 Vasiukov,Evgeni RUS 2502 Vaulin,Alexander RUS 2511 Vladimirov,Evgeny KAZ 2611 Voitsekhovsky,Stanislav RUS 2566 Volkov,Sergei RUS 2548 Volzhin,Alexander RUS 2505 Vyzmanavin,Alexey RUS 2519 Wahls,Matthias GER 2530 Wang Zili CHN 2504 Watson,William ENG 2542 Wojtkiewicz,Aleksander POL 2522 Wolff,Patrick USA 2602 Xie Jun CHN 2518 Xu Jun CHN 2533 Yakovich,Yuri RUS 2544 Ye Jiangchuan CHN 2565 Yemelin,Vasyli RUS 2526 Yermolinsky,Alexey USA 2585 Yudasin,Leonid ISR 2535 Yurtaev,Leonid KYR 2512 Yusupov,Artur GER 2590 Zagrebelny,Sergey UZB 2510 Zaichik,Gennadi GEO 2564 Zakharevich,Igor RUS 2504 Zhang Zhong CHN 2548 Zhelnin,Vladimir RUS 2528 Zilberman,Yaacov ISR 2507 Zvjaginsev,Vadim RUS 2643