New Delhi: After initially depriving Viswanathan Anand of the top position in its latest rankings list, Fide on Sunday bowed to pressure and crowned the Indian as the world’s No.1 player.

Fide rating committee chairman Casto Abundo confirmed Anand as the new No.1.

“Congratulations to Anand and the All India Chess Federation. (We are) pleased to inform you that we have rated the Linares event today and Anand is world number one,” Abundo said a message from Elista.

The Indian was to become No. 1 for the first time in his career after he won the Morelia-Linares tournament in Spain last month.

But the Fide list showed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria still on top, 13 points ahead.

Fide said the Morelia-Linares tournament was not taken into consideration while updating the rankings since it concluded on March 10, outside the cut-off date of February 28.

But following the AICF’s strong protests and criticism, Fide agreed to correct the list.

According to the AICF, the Linares tournament has traditionally been included every year in the rating lists for April. The body objected to Fide’s deviation from this practice.

The Indian federation said on its website, “The AICF asked Fide to rate this event as done in the past 15 or more years… Excluding it this time would be an injustice to Indian chess and Viswanathan Anand.”

AICF treasurer Bharat Singh Chauhan said the Asian Cities Chess Championship in Teheran, which was held from March 1 to 9, was included in the calculations. “This shows their (Fide’s) double standards,” he said.

Anand overtook Topalov in ELO rating points after his triumph in the Morelia-Linares tournament, where the Bulgarian lost a number of rating points before it ended on March 10.