Cuban becomes top American chess player in world ranking

HAVANA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cuban chess player Leinier Dominguezon Sunday climbed to the 21st in the world rankings to become the top player in the Americas.

Dominguez collected a total of 2,719 Elo (system to measure players abilities) points.

The Cuban Great Master, who in the last two months has not played, regains the leadership of the Americas after going up one place compared with his rankings in September 2009.

Dominguez has replaced U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura, who now is ranked 25th in the world with 2,713 Elo points, as the Americas top player.

Bulgarian player Veselin Topalov leads the world rankings with 2,810 Elo points, and Norwegian Magnus Carlsen jumped from 4th to the 2nd, having now 2,801 points.

Cuba is 19th in the rankings by countries and regions with an average of 2,585 points.

Russia tops the standings with 2,726 points, followed by Ukraine with 2,694 points and Israel with 2,648 points.