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Here is the latest IGM rating or grading list which I prepared for presentation at the FIDE meeting in October at Lugano. The ratings given are to be construed as averages over the indicated 28 month period. Unfortunately I cannot supply what would be 'current' ratings as so far I have been unable to obtain tournament and match reports in chronological order and within a reasonable time after the respective events. FIDE had directed its membership to send me reports; however, the response to the directive was negligible; absolutely zero from behind the iron curtain.
A single important factor which casts a doubt over the validity of a ranking list such as this, regardless of what type of grading system is used, is the prevalance of the 'grand master draw'. Among the top ranked players only Fischer, Botvinnik and Larsen had more games played to a decition than draws. Even such fighting players as Korchnoy, Tal and Portisch played more than 50% of their games to draws. And how can any system truly evaluate Spassky's performance when he played 91 draws in 129 grand master games? One could paraphrase an oft quoted saying here: "the fault is not our system but in our masters" - and the way they play. At that, a grading system, even at the grand master level, could serve a useful purpose. Grand masters may pretend to be above such things as ratings systems but the truth is that they are as vain about their ratings as the duffers. If they understood that draws could adversely affect their ratings we might see fewer perfunctory draws in grand master play.
The performances of the International Grand Masters over the period January 1966 through April 1968. Included on the list are all the F.I.D.E. grand masters as of October 22, 1967 and a few international masters who, by statistical ciriteria, have performed at the grand master level. The ratings of the players represent their average performances over the indicated period. The figures are rounded to the nearest ten since greater precition cannot be claimed.
/ Prof. Arpad E. Elo, CHESS, November 1968 /
pos Player_ID Name Title Fed Rtng +/- gms Birthday Sex Flag
Argentina
1 Najdorf, Miguel ARG 2590
2 Panno, Oscar ARG 2540
3 Pilnik, Herman ARG 2510
4 Eliskases, Erich ARG 2500
Belgium
1 O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic BEL 2430
Brazil
1 Mecking, Henrique BRA 2550
Bulgaria
1 Bobotsov, Milko G. BUL 2540
2 Padevsky, Nikola BUL 2480
2= Tringov, Georgi P. BUL 2480
Canada
1 Yanofsky, Daniel A. CAN 2470
Czechoslovakia
1 Hort, Vlastimil CSR 2570
2 Kavalek, Lubomir CSR 2520
3 Filip, Miroslav CSR 2510
Denmark
1 Larsen, Bent DEN 2650
Spain
1 Pomar Salamanca, Arturo ESP 2520
East Germany
1 Uhlmann, Wolfgang GDR 2530
2 Pietzsch, Wolfgang GDR 2420
Germany
1 Unzicker, Wolfgang GER 2610
2 Darga, Klaus GER 2570
3 Schmid, Lothar GER 2510
Hungary
1 Portisch, Lajos HUN 2610
2 Bilek, Istvan HUN 2530
3 Szabo, Laszlo HUN 2520
4 Barcza, Gedeon HUN 2500
5 Barczay, Laszlo HUN 2480
6 Lengyel, Levente HUN 2470
Iceland
1 Olafsson, Fridrik ISL 2590
Netherlands
1 Donner, Jan-Hein NED 2530
Romania
1 Gheorghiu, Florin ROM 2530
Soviet Union
1 Botvinnik, Mikhail URS 2690
2 Korchnoi, Viktor URS 2660
2= Spassky, Boris V. URS 2660
4 Petrosian, Tigran URS 2650
4= Tal, Mikhail N. URS 2650
6 Geller, Efim P. URS 2630
6= Smyslov, Vassily URS 2630
8 Polugaevsky, Lev URS 2610
8= Stein, Leonid URS 2610
10 Keres, Paul URS 2600
10= Kholmov, Ratmir D. URS 2600
10= Lutikov, Anatoly S. URS 2600
13 Boleslavsky, Isaak URS 2590
14 Gipslis, Aivars URS 2580
14= Krogius, Nikolai V. URS 2580
14= Taimanov, Mark E. URS 2580
17 Furman, Semyen A. URS 2570
17= Lein, Anatoly URS 2570
19 Antoshin, Vladimir S. URS 2560
19= Gufeld, Eduard URS 2560
19= Zaitsev, Alexander URS 2560
22 Osnos, Viatcheslav URS 2550
22= Savon, Vladimir A. URS 2550
22= Vasiukov, Evgeni URS 2550
25 Averbakh, Yuri L. URS 2540
25= Shamkovich, Leonid URS 2540
27 Suetin, Alexey S. URS 2530
28 Kotov, Alexander URS 2510
28= Liberzon, Vladimir M. URS 2510
28= Simagin, Vladimir URS 2510
United States
1 Fischer, Robert James USA 2710
2 Benko, Pal C. USA 2580
2= Reshevsky, Samuel H. USA 2580
4 Evans, Larry M. USA 2560
5 Byrne, Robert E. USA 2520
Yugoslavia
1 Gligoric, Svetozar YUG 2590
2 Ivkov, Borislav YUG 2560
2= Matulovic, Milan YUG 2560
4 Matanovic, Aleksandar YUG 2550
5 Parma, Bruno YUG 2540
6 Ciric, Dragoljub M. YUG 2530
7 Trifunovic, Petar YUG 2500
8 Janosevic, Dragoljub YUG 2490
9 Damjanovic, Mato YUG 2420