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Secrets of the January 2012 FIDE Rating List

by Boris Schipkov

There are 133549 players in the January 2012 FIDE Rating List. Average rating of the January FIDE Rating List is 1953,7.
The greatest number of chessplayers live in Germany - 15442. There are 14422 players with rating in Russia.

Players

P Country N Players Percent Players Percent
      January 2008 January 2008 January 2012 January 2012
1 Germany GER 11123 12,7 15442 11,6
2 Russia RUS 10036 11,4 14422 10,8
3 Spain ESP 6901 7,9 12054 9,0
4 France FRA 5690 6,5 10099 7,6
5 India IND 3370 3,8 7954 6,0
6 Poland POL 3553 4,0 5416 4,1
7 Italy ITA 2441 2,8 4670 3,5
8 Hungary HUN 2893 3,3 4216 3,2
9 Czech Republic CZE 2586 2,9 4054 3,0
10 Serbia SRB 2396 2,7 3043 2,3
11 United States USA 1824 2,1 2691 2,0
12 Greece GRE 1252 1,4 2375 1,8
13 Ukraine UKR 1643 1,9 2355 1,8
14 Netherlands NED 1581 1,8 2190 1,6
15 Austria AUT 1507 1,7 1987 1,5
16 Romania ROU 1386 1,6 1894 1,4
17 Brazil BRA 1041 1,2 1885 1,4
18 Croatia CRO 1363 1,6 1884 1,4
19 Slovakia SVK 1152 1,3 1810 1,4
    Other 24003 27,4 33108 24,8
    All 87741 100,0 133549 100,0

The greatest increase for 4 years in number of players was in Spain, + 5153. There are 123 countries in the January 2012 FIDE Rating List. A number of countries decreased on 25.

Leading Countries in Increase of Number of Players

P Country N January 2008 January 2012 Increase Percent
1 Spain ESP 6901 12054 5153 74,67
2 India IND 3370 7954 4584 136,02
3 France FRA 5690 10099 4409 77,49
4 Russia RUS 10036 14422 4386 43,70
5 Germany GER 11123 15442 4319 38,83
6 Italy ITA 2441 4670 2229 91,32
7 Poland POL 3553 5416 1863 52,43
8 Czech Republic CZE 2586 4054 1468 56,77
9 Hungary HUN 2893 4216 1323 45,73
10 Greece GRE 1252 2375 1123 89,70
11 Iran IRI 550 1638 1088 197,82
12 United States USA 1824 2691 867 47,53
13 Turkey TUR 610 1466 856 140,33
14 Brazil BRA 1041 1885 844 81,08
15 Ukraine UKR 1643 2355 712 43,34
16 Slovakia SVK 1152 1810 658 57,12
17 Serbia SRB 2396 3043 647 27,00
18 Denmark DEN 1024 1664 640 62,50
19 Peru PER 258 871 613 237,60
20 Netherlands NED 1581 2190 609 38,52
21 Belgium BEL 635 1229 594 93,54
    All 87741 133549 45808 52,21

Players from China have now the highest average rating - 2193,39. Players from Indonesia have the second average rating - 2163,53. I took into consideration only countries with more than 100 players with rating.

Average Rating

P Country N Players January 2008 January 2012 Change
1 China CHN 468 2235,60 2193,39 -42,21
2 Indonesia INA 212 2212,42 2163,53 -48,89
3 Kazakhstan KAZ 487 2184,24 2126,43 -57,81
4 Israel ISR 905 2175,11 2124,01 -51,10
5 Macedonia MKD 220 2173,25 2120,93 -52,32
6 United States USA 2691 2193,93 2119,83 -74,10
7 Canada CAN 631 2155,56 2106,21 -49,36
8 Estonia EST 193 2155,65 2104,19 -51,46
9 Ukraine UKR 2355 2182,17 2101,77 -80,40
10 Cuba CUB 1310 2140,39 2097,57 -42,82
11 Uzbekistan UZB 292 2171,56 2085,40 -86,16
12 Armenia ARM 422 2190,23 2081,91 -108,32
13 Sweden SWE 1109 2146,03 2081,57 -64,46
14 Serbia SRB 3043 2145,38 2080,95 -64,43
15 Montenegro MNE 279 2147,32 2064,06 -83,26
16 Finland FIN 586 2126,44 2059,97 -66,47
17 Russia RUS 14422 2141,40 2059,80 -81,60
18 Latvia LAT 294 2141,32 2059,12 -82,20
19 Turkmenistan TKM 159 2148,79 2056,55 -92,24
20 Algeria ALG 131 2127,49 2056,48 -71,01
21 Netherlands NED 2190 2112,81 2056,00 -56,81
    All 133549 2073,94 1953,70 -120,25

The greatest number of grandmasters, international masters and FIDE masters live in Russia: 206 GMs, 475 IMs and 926 FMs. Grandmasters, top 10: Russia - 206, Ukraine - 76, Germany - 75, USA - 69, Serbia - 52, Hungary - 49, France - 45, Israel - 39, Spain - 36, England - 35.

Titles

P   COUNTRY GM January 2008 GM January 2012 Ch GM AvR f m wg wm
1 Russia RUS 177 206 29 2539,364078 926 475 42 91
2 Ukraine UKR 65 76 11 2556,289474 114 192 20 30
3 Germany GER 67 75 8 2509,826667 718 223 14 37
4 United States USA 61 69 8 2513,550725 288 112 11 21
5 Serbia SRB 46 52 6 2486,634615 305 97 12 16
6 Hungary HUN 40 49 9 2520,571429 202 103 8 16
7 France FRA 32 45 13 2540,533333 155 95 5 17
8 Israel ISR 34 39 5 2529,333333 51 45 4 8
9 Spain ESP 30 36 6 2505,527778 254 102 3 10
10 England ENG 35 35 0 2523,6 88 55 3 10
11 Bulgaria BUL 25 33 8 2497,575758 14 50 5 12
12 Poland POL 25 32 7 2548,1875 115 96 10 24
13 Armenia ARM 20 32 12 2540,96875 14 22 4 7
14 Croatia CRO 29 30 1 2517,233333 122 54 3 8
15 China CHN 20 29 9 2561,965517 20 22 18 10
16 Netherlands NED 22 28 6 2543,928571 136 74 3 13
17 Czech Republic CZE 23 27 4 2508,333333 120 68 5 12
18 India IND 16 25 9 2554,16 41 76 8 16
19 Georgia GEO 22 24 2 2542,708333 10 37 11 13
20 Romania ROU 19 20 1 2532 87 68 12 13
21 Azerbaijan AZE 16 20 4 2574,65 12 16 5 8
22 Cuba CUB 13 19 6 2522,894737 136 28 8 10
    Other 282 283 1 2509,893993 1696 760 41 168
    All 1119 1284 165 2525,431464 5624 2870 255 570

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© 2000-2012 Boris Schipkov