The November 2011 FIDE Rating List was one of the most interesting of recent times with some large changes as the leading players competed in the World Cup, European Club Cup and Bilbao amongst many elite events. Magnus Carlsen as a result of Bilbao is further clear as World Number 1. Kamnik goes over 2800. Radjabov leaps to 5 and Morozevich to 9. Nakamura back at 10. Big falls for Kamsky and Ponomariov.

Magnus Carlsen extended his lead as World Number 1 to 15 points after Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian dropped points and he gained in Bilbao. Vladimir Kramnik returns to 2800 a reflection of recent fine play, Teimour Radjabov put a tremendous amount of work into what turned out to be just one match in the Candidates against Vladimir Kramnik. The Candidates have historically proved to be the catalyst for improvement and once he recovered from the loss he has gained 29 points in the last two months to move from 13 to 5 in the world. Vassily Ivanchuk is at 6 gaining 10 points, Veselin Topalov drops to 7th having not played, Sergey Karjakin has had a tough time recently and dropped 9 points to go from 5 to 8. Alexander Morozevich's return to his very best has been well reported and he is now at 9. Hikaru Nakamura is back as US number one and gained 5 points.

Magnus Carlsen added two rating points after his win in Biel to move to 2823 to retain top spot in the September FIDE rating list. World Champion Anand is still 2nd having played no games. Levon Aronian gains two points at the World Team Championships. Vladimir Kramnik moves back to 4th above Sergey Karjakin after Dortmund and the Russian Championships gaining 10 points. Topalov is back at 6th without playing due to Nakamura's recent woes that drop him to 8th losing 12 points. Ivanchuk is 7th, Ponomariov up to 9th from 10th as Mamedyarov lost points at the World Teams and Baku Open. Grischuk completes the top 10. Morozevich is up from 48th to 17th in the World after his recent return to form. Anish Giri rises from 40 to 23 for a much more realistic world ranking. Full list below.

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand retains his lead over Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian as hardly any of the players in the top 10 played any games. Vugar Gashimov enters the top 10 in the world through some old Bundesliga results that have only just been submitted. The lack of top level games reflects the crunch in the finances at the top level and the fact that many are preparing for the World Chess Championship Candidates which start next week.

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand returned to World Number One over-taking Magnus Carlsen after a superior result in the Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee tournament. At 2817 Anand is two points ahead of Carlsen. Levon Aronian is in 3rd place with a rating of 2808. These tiny differences mean that any time these three play there can be changes in the ranking at the top. Vladimir Kramnik remains in fourth.

Magnus Carlsen (2814, +12) has reclaimed the number one position on the FIDE rating chart with gains from the Pearl Spring and the London Classic. He overtakes Viswanathan Anand who saw a modest gain (2810, +6).