<P> On Kasparov 's retirement , the world number one ranking passed to Veselin Topalov , since Kasparov was removed from the rating list in April 2006 due to inactivity . In April 2007 , Viswanathan Anand became the sixth player to top the rankings . Kramnik briefly returned to the number one ranking in January 2008 , but was again joint number one by rating , being placed first in the list due to having played more games in the rating period in question . For most of the period April 2007 to November 2009 , the top ranking was held by either Anand or Topalov . The seventh and current world number one is Magnus Carlsen , who first achieved this ranking in the January 2010 list , and has been world number one since July 2011 after having lost and reclaimed the position from Anand during 2010 and 2011 . </P>
<P> On Kasparov 's retirement , the world number one ranking passed to Veselin Topalov , since Kasparov was removed from the rating list in April 2006 due to inactivity . In April 2007 , Viswanathan Anand became the sixth player to top the rankings . Kramnik briefly returned to the number one ranking in January 2008 , but was again joint number one by rating , being placed first in the list due to having played more games in the rating period in question . For most of the period April 2007 to November 2009 , the top ranking was held by either Anand or Topalov . The seventh and current world number one is Magnus Carlsen , who first achieved this ranking in the January 2010 list , and has been world number one since July 2011 after having lost and reclaimed the position from Anand during 2010 and 2011 . </P>
who is the number one ranked chess player
who is the number one ranked chess player
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen