World No 2 in classical chess, Anand, often called `Speedy Gonzales' for his lightning play, became the first person to cross the 2800 mark in rapid chess.

Anand, who is at present playing in a tournament at Dortmund, said, ``I am happy about the release of a new rating list for rapid chess. Being rated number one is really nice.''

``I hope to achieve this in the other rating list too,'' he added, according to TNQ, the exclusive representative company of Anand.

Though rating lists have been released for classical chess since 1971, this was for the first time that Fide has released a rating list for rapid chess events.

All rapid chess events with a time limit of 30 minutes have been included in the ratings. The first list included over 20 tournaments.

Vladimir Kraminik of Russia with a Elo rating of 2760 was placedsecond while his compatriot Anatoly Karpov was in the sixth position with a rating of 2700. The list has featured over 1000 players who have participated in 30-minute events. Eleven events have been rated in the list.

Top Ten ELO Ratings

Viswanathan Anand (India) 2840

Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 2760

Boris Gelfand (Israel) 2730

A Shirov (Spain) 2720

P Svidler (Russia) 2720

Anatoly Karpov (Russia) 2700

V Topalov (Bulgaria) 2700

V Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2690

L Van Wely (Netherlands) 2650

U Anderson (Sweden) 2630