Top Ten Elo performers of all time

Garry Kasparov
I've been taking a look at the highest ratings achieved by some well know stars. One should be careful about comparing ELO ratings from one generation to another, and naturally be cautious about making any conclusions about relative playing strengths. However chess players are interesting by Elo ratings and we all know our own personal highest, don't we?

As a reminder, here is the May 2011 rating list.

On the present 'top twenty' list we notice that three players are above 2800. Two others, Kramnik and Topalov have been there before, but have dipped below it. Very few players in history have achieved 2770+ and yet there are nine at present!

The only other player to have ever been above 2800 is Garry Kasparov who is retired and, as most of you will know, has the highest ever Elo rating.

The table below show the highest Elo ratings achieved by players who have been active in the last decade, plus (for comparitive purposes) those of former World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Bobby Fischer, as well as the present Candidates-series Champion Boris Gelfand.


Published on , Updated on