A first since 1971: no Russian among the world's top 10 chess players

In 1971, FIDE, the international chess federation, began publishing a world ranking list. For the first time, there is no Russian in the top 10 of the world's best chess players.

Even before the FIDE started the rankings, Russia was one of the best, if not the best, chess countries, with world champions such as Alexander Alekhine in the 1930s and 1940s, Mikhail Botvinnik, founder of the Russian chess school in the 1950s and 1960s, Mikhail Tal and Boris Spassky, best known for his battle for the world title against the American Bobby Fischer. Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov dominated world chess in the 1980s and 1990s.

It is therefore almost inconceivable that there is currently no Russian in the world's top 10. After a poor tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the best Russian player of the moment, Ian Nepomniachtchi, has tumbled from 10th to 14th place in the FIDE rankings published monthly.

World chess is now dominated by the United States and India, but the best chess player in the world remains Norway's Magnus Carlsen. He is preceded on the FIDE list by two Americans, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. This trio is followed by two Indians in 4th and 5th place: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and the current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.

(PP with DC - Source: FIDE.com, Guardian - Illustration: © Unsplash)