YEREVAN, APRIL 3, NOYAN TAPAN. FIDE has publicized the rating list of the strongest chess-players as of 2006 April 1. It is the first time that 13th world champion Garry Kasparov (Russia) is not included in the list as he has not performed in tournaments for more than a year. World champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) is the first on the list with a personal rating of 2804 points. Vishvantan Anand (India, 2803) was left behind him only with 1 point. Representative of Armenia, world cup-holder Levon Aronian has considerably improved his rating and takes the 3rd honorary place among the strongest chess-players. Another 3 representatives of Armenia take places in the first hundred of the strongest chess-players. Vladimir Hakobian is the 16th (2706), Karen Asrian the 61st (2646), Smbat Lputian 94th (2619). One more Armenian chess-player, representative of Slovakia Sergei Movsisian is also among the hundred strongest chess-players. Judit Polgar (Hungary) is at the top of the list of strongest women chess-players with a large advantage. She takes part only in men's tournaments. Her individual rating is 2711 points. New world champion Xu Yuhua (China) is only in the 5th place (2517). Two representatives of Armenia, Lilit Mkrtchian and Elina Danielian, take the 21st and 38th places, respectively. Mkrtchian's rating is 2453, Danielian's 2422. At the same time FIDE publicized the average ratings of 10 strongest chess-players from different countries. The first five is the following: Russia (average rating 2716), Ukraine (2663), USA (2625), France (2623), Armenia (2616). Armenia preserves its place among the strongest.

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