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When was the last time an IM was in Women's OFFICIAL top ten?

#1

Polina Shuvalova has just entered the Women's official top ten as an IM. But I have struggled to find another case of this in the modern era.
Don't mention Polina in the past, Sara, Kashlinskaya, Divya in the past, Ushenina in the past, Lela, or Tsolakido. None was official top 10 as IM.

Polina Shuvalova has just entered the Women's official top ten as an IM. But I have struggled to find another case of this in the modern era. Don't mention Polina in the past, Sara, Kashlinskaya, Divya in the past, Ushenina in the past, Lela, or Tsolakido. None was official top 10 as IM.
#2

@Koalphin said in #1:

Polina Shuvalova has just entered the Women's official top ten as an IM. But I have struggled to find another case of this in the modern era.
Don't mention Polina in the past, Sara, Kashlinskaya, Divya in the past, Ushenina in the past, Lela, or Tsolakido. None was official top 10 as IM.

What surprised you so much? I barely follow women's chess, so I don't know (I've never been interested) a direct answer to your question. But nothing surprises me in this situation. I assume that, if you look at history as a whole, for very long periods of time, there have been International Masters and Woman Grandmasters in the top 10 women's chess. Just in case, I'll say this (many don't know this). The International Master title is considered slightly stronger, more prestigious, and more difficult to achieve than the Woman Grandmaster title. I've even heard this from top women's chess players themselves in interviews. Doesn't the presence of woman grandmasters in the top 10 women's chess surprise you? But that's a slightly weaker (and slightly less prestigious) title than International Master. And as an example, the Russian Women's Championship (by women's standards, a strong and prestigious tournament) was won either last year or the year before by Valentina Gunina, who held the International Master title. And (as I heard from someone in an interview), it was precisely as a result of this tournament that she finally received the grandmaster title. Before that, she had long been in the top women's chess rankings. I don't know if she was in the top 10 or not, but it's very likely that she got there occasionally. And by the way. And the last Russian Women's Championship was won by Anna Shukhman. She also doesn't have a grandmaster title (not the women's one). And her FIDE rating before that tournament was a mere 2236 (I just opened the table and see it in it). With that rating before the tournament, she could have won the Russian Women's Chess Championship right then. And the Russian women's team won the Women's World Team Championship right after that (and that was on a team with non-grandmasters Shuvalova and Shukhman). International Master is a very high title by women's standards. It's even suitable for getting into the top 10 in women's chess.

@Koalphin said in #1: > Polina Shuvalova has just entered the Women's official top ten as an IM. But I have struggled to find another case of this in the modern era. > Don't mention Polina in the past, Sara, Kashlinskaya, Divya in the past, Ushenina in the past, Lela, or Tsolakido. None was official top 10 as IM. What surprised you so much? I barely follow women's chess, so I don't know (I've never been interested) a direct answer to your question. But nothing surprises me in this situation. I assume that, if you look at history as a whole, for very long periods of time, there have been International Masters and Woman Grandmasters in the top 10 women's chess. Just in case, I'll say this (many don't know this). The International Master title is considered slightly stronger, more prestigious, and more difficult to achieve than the Woman Grandmaster title. I've even heard this from top women's chess players themselves in interviews. Doesn't the presence of woman grandmasters in the top 10 women's chess surprise you? But that's a slightly weaker (and slightly less prestigious) title than International Master. And as an example, the Russian Women's Championship (by women's standards, a strong and prestigious tournament) was won either last year or the year before by Valentina Gunina, who held the International Master title. And (as I heard from someone in an interview), it was precisely as a result of this tournament that she finally received the grandmaster title. Before that, she had long been in the top women's chess rankings. I don't know if she was in the top 10 or not, but it's very likely that she got there occasionally. And by the way. And the last Russian Women's Championship was won by Anna Shukhman. She also doesn't have a grandmaster title (not the women's one). And her FIDE rating before that tournament was a mere 2236 (I just opened the table and see it in it). With that rating before the tournament, she could have won the Russian Women's Chess Championship right then. And the Russian women's team won the Women's World Team Championship right after that (and that was on a team with non-grandmasters Shuvalova and Shukhman). International Master is a very high title by women's standards. It's even suitable for getting into the top 10 in women's chess.
#3

Surprised to see there's only 10 active 2500 women. Polina has hit 2500 elo, so she's just missing the norms.

I'd be surprised about times of "only" WGMs (that is, neither GM nor IM) being in the top 10

Surprised to see there's only 10 active 2500 women. Polina has hit 2500 elo, so she's just missing the norms. I'd be surprised about times of "only" WGMs (that is, neither GM nor IM) being in the top 10
#4

Not really top 10 but as close as one can get: Divya Desmukh was ranked 11th in October 2024 when she had neither GM nor IM title.

Not really top 10 but as close as one can get: Divya Desmukh was ranked 11th in October 2024 when she had neither GM nor IM title.
#5

Responses:

  1. I personally am surprised by how hard it is to find a top 10 IM, but if there is a top 10 WGM findable that's a bigger surprise.
  2. Gunina seems to have become GM in 2013.
  3. Yes, Gunina had a short period in top 10 as IM in 2012, some 13 years ago.
  4. Of course in the historical time there was nearly no female GM. Maybe there began to be much more female GMs around the 2010s.
Responses: 1. I personally am surprised by how hard it is to find a top 10 IM, but if there is a top 10 WGM findable that's a bigger surprise. 2. Gunina seems to have become GM in 2013. 3. Yes, Gunina had a short period in top 10 as IM in 2012, some 13 years ago. 4. Of course in the historical time there was nearly no female GM. Maybe there began to be much more female GMs around the 2010s.
#6

@Koalphin said in #5:

Responses:

  1. I personally am surprised by how hard it is to find a top 10 IM, but if there is a top 10 WGM findable that's a bigger surprise.
  2. Gunina seems to have become GM in 2013.
  3. Yes, Gunina had a short period in top 10 as IM in 2012, some 13 years ago.
  4. Of course in the historical time there was nearly no female GM. Maybe there began to be much more female GMs around the 2010s.

Yes. I agree about Gunina. Someone misinformed me here, and I passed on that information without checking. So, my comment above applies without mentioning her. The rest remains valid. Gunina is mentioned only as secondary information, which could have been left out altogether. By the way, I looked at the top 20 of the FIDE women's rating list. Shuvalova isn't the only non-grandmaster there. The non-grandmasters in the top 20 of the FIDE women's rating list right now are: 10 Shuvalova; 14 Stavroula; 15 Kashlinskaya. That is, being a non-grandmaster is perfectly normal for getting into the top 20 of the women's rating list, even now. I also just looked at the roster of the Russian women's team, which just won the Women's World Team Championship. Of the six participants, only three are grandmasters, and three are non-grandmasters (two international masters and one woman grandmaster). The team leader has a maximum rating of 2540. It's perfectly normal for a team like that to win the Women's World Team Championship. And, as I mentioned above, the current Russian champion isn't a grandmaster. This is despite the fact that there are definitely more than 1,000 grandmasters in the world right now. I think their number is closer to 2,000 than 1,000. For example, even one of the guys who played on our small children's team after me when I was a kid (but he was younger than me) is a grandmaster now, and he consistently ranks in the world's top 1,000 (the last time I checked his rating, I saw him ranked around 900th in the world).

@Koalphin said in #5: > Responses: > 1. I personally am surprised by how hard it is to find a top 10 IM, but if there is a top 10 WGM findable that's a bigger surprise. > 2. Gunina seems to have become GM in 2013. > 3. Yes, Gunina had a short period in top 10 as IM in 2012, some 13 years ago. > 4. Of course in the historical time there was nearly no female GM. Maybe there began to be much more female GMs around the 2010s. Yes. I agree about Gunina. Someone misinformed me here, and I passed on that information without checking. So, my comment above applies without mentioning her. The rest remains valid. Gunina is mentioned only as secondary information, which could have been left out altogether. By the way, I looked at the top 20 of the FIDE women's rating list. Shuvalova isn't the only non-grandmaster there. The non-grandmasters in the top 20 of the FIDE women's rating list right now are: 10 Shuvalova; 14 Stavroula; 15 Kashlinskaya. That is, being a non-grandmaster is perfectly normal for getting into the top 20 of the women's rating list, even now. I also just looked at the roster of the Russian women's team, which just won the Women's World Team Championship. Of the six participants, only three are grandmasters, and three are non-grandmasters (two international masters and one woman grandmaster). The team leader has a maximum rating of 2540. It's perfectly normal for a team like that to win the Women's World Team Championship. And, as I mentioned above, the current Russian champion isn't a grandmaster. This is despite the fact that there are definitely more than 1,000 grandmasters in the world right now. I think their number is closer to 2,000 than 1,000. For example, even one of the guys who played on our small children's team after me when I was a kid (but he was younger than me) is a grandmaster now, and he consistently ranks in the world's top 1,000 (the last time I checked his rating, I saw him ranked around 900th in the world).
#7

@Koalphin

Grandmaster level is conventionally considered to be a rating of 2500 FIDE rating and above (the title is lifelong, but conventionally, this level of playing ability is considered grandmaster, and anything below that is considered non-grandmaster). I looked at the current women's ratings on the FIDE website. Only 10 women in the world currently have a rating of 2500 or higher. That is, objectively, only they are currently playing at the grandmaster level. More women hold the grandmaster title. But for most of them, this is only for past achievements. They don't currently play at that level.

@Koalphin Grandmaster level is conventionally considered to be a rating of 2500 FIDE rating and above (the title is lifelong, but conventionally, this level of playing ability is considered grandmaster, and anything below that is considered non-grandmaster). I looked at the current women's ratings on the FIDE website. Only 10 women in the world currently have a rating of 2500 or higher. That is, objectively, only they are currently playing at the grandmaster level. More women hold the grandmaster title. But for most of them, this is only for past achievements. They don't currently play at that level.