January

• January 1 – Veselin Topalov
  Veselin Topalov
  Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
  
   (Bulgaria) gains 5 rating points
  Elo rating system
  The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
  
   to remain at the head the FIDE top 100 players list at 2796. Viswanathan Anand
  Viswanathan Anand
  V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
  
   (India) is second at 2791.

  class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; background:#EBEBEB;">
  Elo	FIDE Top Ten Men	FIDE Top Ten Women	Elo
  2796			2693
  2791			2621
  2779			2571
  2776			2557
  2771			2548
  2761			2540
  2760			2529
  2759			2518
  2751			2516
  2751			2516

Grandmaster