Carlsen 2835

Carlsen's rating will be 2835 on the January list, only 16 points behind Kasparov's record of 2851 that he had on two rating lists around the turn of the century. No other players have passed 2817. These are the results of Carlsen's 14 latest round robins:

Nanjing 2009 1st +6 -0 =4 3002 

Tal Memorial 2009 =2nd +2 -0 =7 2838

London 2009 1st +3 -0 =4 2839

Wijk 2010 1st +5 -1 =6 2822

Bazna 2010 1st +5 -0 =5 2918

Bilbao 2010 3rd +1 -2 =3 2718

Nanjing 2010 1st +4 -0 =6 2901

London 2010 1st +4 -2 =1 2815

Wijk 2011 =3rd +5 -2 =6 2815

Bazna 2011 1st +3 -0 =7 2853

Biel 2011 1st +5 -1 =4 2833

Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2011 1st +3 -1 =6 2842

Tal Memorial 2011 1st +2 -0 =7 2849

London 2011 3rd +3 -0 =5 2875

That’s ten first places, one second and three third in fourteen starts. In 13 of the 14 events he has performed at least 2815 (higher than Kasparov’s rating when he retired). The exception was Bilbao 2010, where Carlsen lost the first two games, and a plus after that wasn’t enough to catch up in such a short event (only six games). There aren't many players with similarly impressive sequences of tournament results, now 17 top three finishes in a row (and usually first place). If Carlsen will continue playing like this also in 2012 Kasparov's 2851 will soon be within reach.