Sorted alphabetically
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
1 Antoshin, Vladimir S. URS 2560
2 Averbakh, Yuri L. URS 2540
3 Barcza, Gedeon HUN 2500
4 Barczay, Laszlo HUN 2480
5 Benko, Pal C. USA 2580
6 Bilek, Istvan HUN 2530
7 Bobotsov, Milko G. BUL 2540
8 Boleslavsky, Isaak URS 2590
9 Botvinnik, Mikhail URS 2690
10 Byrne, Robert E. USA 2520
11 Ciric, Dragoljub M. YUG 2530
12 Damjanovic, Mato YUG 2420
13 Darga, Klaus GER 2570
14 Donner, Jan-Hein NED 2530
15 Eliskases, Erich ARG 2500
16 Evans, Larry M. USA 2560
17 Filip, Miroslav CSR 2510
18 Fischer, Robert James USA 2710
19 Furman, Semyen A. URS 2570
20 Geller, Efim P. URS 2630
21 Gheorghiu, Florin ROM 2530
22 Gipslis, Aivars URS 2580
23 Gligoric, Svetozar YUG 2590
24 Gufeld, Eduard URS 2560
25 Hort, Vlastimil CSR 2570
26 Ivkov, Borislav YUG 2560
27 Janosevic, Dragoljub YUG 2490
28 Kavalek, Lubomir CSR 2520
29 Keres, Paul URS 2600
30 Kholmov, Ratmir D. URS 2600
31 Korchnoi, Viktor URS 2660
32 Kotov, Alexander URS 2510
33 Krogius, Nikolai V. URS 2580
34 Larsen, Bent DEN 2650
35 Lein, Anatoly URS 2570
36 Lengyel, Levente HUN 2470
37 Liberzon, Vladimir M. URS 2510
38 Lutikov, Anatoly S. URS 2600
39 Matanovic, Aleksandar YUG 2550
40 Matulovic, Milan YUG 2560
41 Mecking, Henrique BRA 2550
42 Najdorf, Miguel ARG 2590
43 O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic BEL 2430
44 Olafsson, Fridrik ISL 2590
45 Osnos, Viatcheslav URS 2550
46 Padevsky, Nikola BUL 2480
47 Panno, Oscar ARG 2540
48 Parma, Bruno YUG 2540
49 Petrosian, Tigran URS 2650
50 Pietzsch, Wolfgang GDR 2420
51 Pilnik, Herman ARG 2510
52 Polugaevsky, Lev URS 2610
53 Pomar Salamanca, Arturo ESP 2520
54 Portisch, Lajos HUN 2610
55 Reshevsky, Samuel H. USA 2580
56 Savon, Vladimir A. URS 2550
57 Schmid, Lothar GER 2510
58 Shamkovich, Leonid URS 2540
59 Simagin, Vladimir URS 2510
60 Smyslov, Vassily URS 2630
61 Spassky, Boris V. URS 2660
62 Stein, Leonid URS 2610
63 Suetin, Alexey S. URS 2530
64 Szabo, Laszlo HUN 2520
65 Taimanov, Mark E. URS 2580
66 Tal, Mikhail N. URS 2650
67 Trifunovic, Petar YUG 2500
68 Tringov, Georgi P. BUL 2480
69 Uhlmann, Wolfgang GDR 2530
70 Unzicker, Wolfgang GER 2610
71 Vasiukov, Evgeni URS 2550
72 Yanofsky, Daniel A. CAN 2470
73 Zaitsev, Alexander URS 2560