NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand's below-par performance in Chess Olympiad cost him dear as he lost some precious points to drop out of the elite 2800 ELO club.
The fall shattered Anand's chances of claiming the world number one rank but he was still able to maintain his second place in the latest FIDE ratings.
Anand, who had reached the dream mark in the previous list in April after winning the Corus title for a record fifth time, ended up with a debit of a whopping 24 points to slip to ELO 2779 from 2803.
World number one Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who won the Mtel Masters in Sofia, further improved his ratings by nine points to reach ELO 2813 and increase the gap between him and Anand. The Bulgarian is the only player above 2800 after Anand moved out of the club in a short period.
Young Armanian Levon Aronian is also fast advancing up the chart as he closed in on the ace Indian by tallying ELO 2761. The 24-year-old, who led his team to Olympiad title in Turin, was benefited by five points.
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who returned to active chess after a gap of one year, gained 14 points to be fourth while compatriot Peter Svidler lost one point to slide by one place to fifth.
Among other Indians, P Harikrishna gained two points and maintained his 25th position with the ELO 2682 while Krishnan Sasikiran lost five places to be 26th with ELO 2681 after losing 11 points. Harikirshna is second in the juniors list behind Radjabov Teimour of Azerbaijan. He is followed by Sergey Karjakin of Ukrain at third place.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy was second in the list of top women players.
