CalChess FIDE Top 20

The following list includes the top 20 players (plus ties) presently living in Northern California who played in at least one FIDE rated event on the West Coast during the past year. Source: October 2008 FIDE rating list.

Newcomers to these rankings include IM Andrei Florean (photo upper left), who moved to California from the East and recently flirted with a GM norm at the strong Miami Open, Stanford University freshman FM Elliott Liu, who has two IM norms, University of California at Berkeley freshman NM Julian Landaw and finally local rising star NM Steven Zierk (photo upper right), who gained a whopping 108 FIDE points in three months.

1. IM Josh Friedel 2498 (GM-elect)
2. IM Vinay Bhat 2498 (GM-elect)
3. FM Sam Shankland 2436
4. GM Walter Browne 2435
5. IM David Pruess 2422
6. IM Andrei Florean 2420
7. IM John Donaldson 2411
8. IM Ricardo DeGuzman 2409
9. IM Vladimir Mezentsev 2405
10. FM Vladimir Strugatsky 2397
11. IM Dmitry Zilberstein 2393
12. FM Daniel Naroditsky 2382
13. IM John Grefe 2348
14. FM Elliott Liu 2356
15. FM Shiv Shivaji 2308
16. WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2293
17. NM Julian Landaw 2286
18. NM Gregory Young 2264
19. NM Nicolas Yap 2255
20. NM Steven Zierk 2240
21. NM Andy Lee 2240