Chess Siberia

The Secrets of the January 2003 FIDE Rating List

By Boris Schipkov

There are 45016 players in the January 2003 FIDE Rating List. Average rating of the January FIDE Rating List is 2186,5.
The greatest number of chessplayers live in Germany - 5773. There are 5382 players with rating in Russia.

Players

P	Country	N	Players	Percent	Players	Percent
			Oct 2002	Oct 2002	Jan 2003	Jan 2003
1	Germany	GER	5613	13,2	5773	12,8
2	Russia	RUS	5193	12,2	5382	12,0
3	Spain	ESP	2395	5,6	2537	5,6
4	France	FRA	1932	4,5	2150	4,8
5	Yugoslavia	YUG	1891	4,4	1928	4,3
6	Poland	POL	1778	4,2	1806	4,0
7	Hungary	HUN	1725	4,0	1746	3,9
8	Czech Republic	CZE	1265	3,0	1282	2,8
9	United States	USA	1251	2,9	1267	2,8
10	India	IND	1051	2,5	1119	2,5
11	Ukraine	UKR	1025	2,4	1046	2,3
12	Austria	AUT	888	2,1	897	2,0
13	England	ENG	860	2,0	861	1,9
14	Argentina	ARG		0,0	839	1,9
15	Italy	ITA	820	1,9	827	1,8
16	Romania	ROM	799	1,9	813	1,8
		Other	14133	33,2	14743	32,8
		All	42619	100,0	45016	100,0

The greatest increase in number of players sensationally was in France, + 218. There are 144 countries in January 2003 FIDE Rating List. A number of countries increased on 12.

Leading Countries in Increase of Number of Players

P	Country	N	Oct 2002	Jan 2003	Increase	Percent
1	France	FRA	1932	2150	218	11,28
2	Russia	RUS	5193	5382	189	3,64
3	Germany	GER	5613	5773	160	2,85
4	Spain	ESP	2395	2537	142	5,93
5	India	IND	1051	1119	68	6,47
6	Yugoslavia	YUG	1891	1928	37	1,96
7	Greece	GRE	480	514	34	7,08
8	Poland	POL	1778	1806	28	1,57
9	Paraguay	PAR	37	59	22	59,46
10	Macedonia	MDA	140	162	22	15,71
11	Slovakia	SVK	577	599	22	3,81
12	Ukraine	UKR	1025	1046	21	2,05
13	Hungary	HUN	1725	1746	21	1,22
14	Croatia	CRO	651	670	19	2,92
		All	42619	45016	2397	5,62

Players from Georgia have now the highest average rating - 2280,47. Players from Philippines have the second average rating - 2275,63. I took in the consideration only countries with more than 100 players with rating.

Average Rating

P	Country	N	Players	Oct 2002	Jan 2003	Change
1	Georgia	GEO	166	2283,40	2280,47	-2,93
2	Philippines	PHI	101	2277,01	2275,63	-1,38
3	Armenia	ARM	146	2271,57	2270,09	-1,48
4	China	CHN	271	2269,46	2263,65	-5,81
5	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	132	2259,20	2254,79	-4,41
6	Ukraine	UKR	1046	2257,30	2253,87	-3,43
7	Indonesia	INA	119	2251,19	2251,31	0,12
8	Azerbaijan	AZE	144	2250,49	2251,22	0,73
9	Belarus	BLR	220	2249,33	2240,33	-9,00
10	United States	USA	1267	2240,29	2239,00	-1,29
11	Iceland	ISL	130	2237,01	2235,42	-1,59
12	Russia	RUS	5382	2237,82	2233,81	-4,02
13	Bulgaria	BUL	435	2235,26	2231,63	-3,64
14	Israel	ISR	506	2229,93	2228,22	-1,71
15	Colombia	COL	147	2220,66	2219,42	-1,23
16	Kazakhstan	KAZ	225	2223,78	2218,01	-5,77
17	Netherlands	NED	695	2219,50	2217,08	-2,42
18	Estonia	EST	121		2210,95
19	Macedonia	MKD	175	2210,29	2210,01	-0,28
20	Myanma	MYA	204	2207,58	2207,13	-0,45
		All	45016	2190,61	2186,50	-4,12

The greatest number of grandmasters and international masters live in Russia. However, the greatest number of FIDE masters live in Germany.

Titles

P	Country	N	GM Jul02	GM Jan03	Ch	AvR	IM	FM	WGM	WIM
1	Russia	RUS	121	125	4	2548,61	345	398	32	64
2	United States	USA	52	54	2	2516,24	91	228	9	24
3	Germany	GER	51	52	1	2507,73	164	531	11	23
4	Ukraine	UKR	41	45	4	2540,29	142	26	15	26
5	Yugoslavia	YUG	42	43	1	2473,33	97	285	11	12
6	Hungary	HUN	31	32	1	2493,94	92	145	12	13
7	England	ENG	31	32	1	2523,66	45	62	5	10
8	Israel	ISR	30	31	1	2530,03	35	40	6	6
9	France	FRA	24	26	2	2530,00	47	70	4	12
10	Bulgaria	BUL	18	20	2	2473,50	47	5	4	8
11	Spain	ESP	18	19	1	2493,68	54	84		6
12	Czech Republic	CZE	16	16	0	2510,44	54	58	5	7
13	Croatia	CRO	16	16	0	2494,13	41	92	1	5
14	Georgia	GEO	14	16	2	2521,63	16	3	13	12
15	Poland	POL	15	15	0	2528,27	67	63	8	17
16	Romania	ROM	12	14	2	2518,50	63	78	9	17
17	Netherlands	NED	14	14	0	2556,21	48	87	4	10
18	Argentina	ARG		13		2494,23	47	79	1	6
19	Armenia	ARM		13		2571,38	19	4	2	5
20	Sweden	SWE	12	12	0	2519,08	31	41	1	4
		Other	173	209	36	2520,40	741	1130	47	141
		All	731	817	86	2520,66	2286	3509	200	428

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