Anand drops to fifth in chess ranking

World champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday fell from the top spot to be placed fifth in the latest world rankings issued by the game's world governing body FIDE.

It is after a gap of over a decade that Anand is placed outside the top three. He was crowned the world number one in April 2007 but dropped to second place in January this year only to regain the top spot in April.

The writing was on the wall after Anand finished at the bottom in the Chess Masters finals tournament in Bilbao, Spain where his old rival Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria clinched the title and the top rank earlier this month.

Topalov is rated ELO 2791 while Anand is 2783 and a further 10 ELO points away is former world champion of  Vladimir Kramnik, who is placed one rung below Anand at sixth.

Anand's world championship title defence in a matchplay against Kramnik from October 11-28 in Bonn, Germany would become all the more interesting after the development.

Prodigious Magnus Carlson of Norway is nearing the top three positions as he is ranked fourth ahead of Anand. Alexander Morozevich of Russia and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine are second and third respectively.