History of Elo ratings 1971-2001

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effective	TXT	GIF	players	m	w	GM WGM	IM WIM	FM WFM	sources & remarks
-			476	475	1	- -	- -	- -	The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present (1978); retrospective all-time top list prepared by Professor Elo
Jun 1967			95	95	0	? -	? -	- -	unofficial list, Chess 9/1967, based on results January 1966-June 1967
Apr 1968			73	73	0	? -	? -	- -	unofficial list, Chess 11/1968, based on results January 1966-April 1968
1969			376	375	1	80 -	123 1	- -	unofficial list, Chess Review 9/1969, based on results January 1966-Spring 1969
1970			429	428	1	87 -	142 1	- -	unofficial list, Chess 7/1970, based on results 1966-1969
Jan 1971			547	545	2	82 -	177 1	- -	unofficial list, TWIC; untitled players rated under 2250 are not listed
Jul 1971			592	589	3	83 -	180 3	- -	Chess Informant 12; untitled players rated under 2250 are not listed; first official FIDE list
Jul 1972			1,132	1,003	129	86 -	193 62	- -	Chess Informant 14; women's ratings were computed for the first time based on 1969-1972 results
Jul 1973			1,119	946	173	90 -	192 65	- -	Chess Informant 16
May 1974			1,094	1,093	1	91 -	189 1	- -	Chess Informant 17; no women on the list
Jan 1975			1,543	1,285	258	100 -	268 69	- -	The Batsford Chess Yearbook 1974/75; Chess Informant 18
Jan 1976			1,658	1,377	281	108 -	229 74	- -	The Batsford Chess Yearbook 1975/76; Chess Informant 20
Jan 1977			1,908	1,576	332	131 13	244 67	- -	Batsford's FIDE Chess Yearbook 1976/77; Chess Informant 22/23
Jan 1978			2,047	1,712	335	138 16	275 69	- -	Batsford's FIDE Chess Yearbook 1977/78; Chess Informant 24; revised Apr 28, effective May 1
Jul 1978			132						Chess Informant 25, supplementary list
Jan 1979			2,445	2,094	351	161 20	326 76	- -	Chess Informant 26
Jul 1979			179						Chess Informant 27, supplementary list
Jan 1980			2,897	2,457	480	169 20	353 80	22 -	Chess Informant 28
Jul 1980			144						Chess Informant 29, supplementary list
Jan 1981			3,334	2,791	543	179 23	411 85	106 1	Chess Informant 30
Jul 1981			3,462	2,910	552	178 23	414 83	106 1	Chess Informant 31; from then on two lists per year
Jan 1982			3,826	3,227	599	184 25	430 96	141 5	Chess Informant 32
Jul 1982			4,015	3,370	645	185 25	436 103	143 8	Chess Informant 33
Jan 1983			4,211	3,522	689	191 34	474 98	207 12	Chess Informant 34
Jul 1983			4,158	3,484	674	189 32	467 97	375 14	Chess Informant 35
Jan 1984			4,151	3,509	642	190 30	485 96	440 16	Chess Informant 36
Jul 1984			4,458	3,774	684	189 31	489 97	506 17	Chess Informant 37
Jan 1985			4,673	3,927	746	195 32	554 103	570 24	Chess Informant 38
Jul 1985			4,586	3,949	637	197 32	544 101	607 30	Chess Informant 39; every player rated lower than 1905 was delisted; number of games played is only available from then on
Jan 1986			4,803	4,174	629	210 36	588 117	657 37	Chess Informant 40
Jul 1986			4,883	4,275	608	212 36	581 120	666 36	Chess Informant 41
Jan 1987			5,200	4,543	657	232 42	652 122	723 40	Chess Informant 42; ratings of all women but Zsuzsa Polgar were increased by 100 points, so the rating floor went up to 2005
Jul 1987			5,708	5,019	689	241 44	685 127	874 49	Chess Informant 43
Jan 1988			6,041	5,317	724	245 46	746 133	918 54	Chess Informant 44
Jul 1988			6,358	5,614	744	249 46	749 132	1,037 58	Chess Informant 45
Jan 1989			6,915	6,112	803	272 48	835 153	1,145 50	Chess Informant 46
Jul 1989			7,202	6,372	830	276 48	843 155	1,206 64	Chess Informant 47
Jan 1990			9,187	8,059	1,128	301 60	944 174	1,289 74	ID were used for the first time
Jul 1990			9,566	8,408	1,158	309 63	967 182	1,492 100	FIDE adopted new codes for ex-Soviet, Yugoslav and Czechoslovak republics, (even if they were not independent yet!); new ID format introduced
Jan 1991			10,132	8,899	1,233	332 63	1,037 204	1,559 105
Jul 1991			10,566	9,297	1,269	341 66	1,047 207	1,599 107
Jan 1992			10,951	9,673	1,278	356 73	1,115 205	1,615 110
Jul 1992			11,418	10,098	1,320	383 77	1,172 210	1,650 116	active/inactive flags available only now
Jan 1993			12,629	11,243	1,386	385 77	1,182 225	1,831 141	rating floor for men was lowered to 2005
Jul 1993			13,418	11,964	1,454	417 80	1,270 233	1,906 154
Jan 1994			14,521	13,047	1,474	439 84	1,337 243	1,951 157
Jul 1994			15,537	14,010	1,527	456 86	1,371 252	2,052 158
Jan 1995			17,010	15,423	1,587	483 96	1,431 255	2,085 165
Jul 1995			18,161	16,510	1,651	492 102	1,450 263	2,139 181
Jan 1996			19,808	18,074	1,734	525 105	1,499 272	2,174 182
Jul 1996			21,004	19,218	1,786	554 109	1,582 286	2,298 196
Jan 1997			22,742	20,851	1,891	558 109	1,608 299	2,333 204
Jul 1997			24,359	22,407	1,952	576 111	1,664 308	2,467 226
Jan 1998			27,111	25,049	2,062	616 122	1,734 315	2,630 251	missing number of games for ca. 8,000 players
Jul 1998			28,020	25,917	2,103	617 122	1,734 315	2,631 252
Jan 1999			29,991	27,806	2,185	654 136	1,806 322	2,708 269	ratings no more rounded to nearest 0 or 5
Jul 1999			31,802	29,535	2,267	653 136	1,818 324	2,783 284
Jan 2000			33,383	31,168	2,315	692 149	1,923 327	2,788 290
Jul 2000			35,230	32,847	2,383	706 154	1,948 332	2,942 334
Oct 2000			35,775	33,255	2,520	713 155	1,997 342	2,980 347	new list every three months
Jan 2001			36,978	34,366	2,612	735 168	2,064 359	3,053 352
Apr 2001			37,625	34,975	2,650	748 178	2,092 367	3,150 364
Jul 2001			38,622	35,908	2,714	747 176	2,106 369	3,240 383
Oct 2001			39,741	36,961	2,780	770 187	2,186 385	3,264 380

Back in 1942 the USCF used its own chess rating system (Harkness) to rank domestic players, while German Chess Federation did the same in 1948 (Ingo system). In 1959 one Arpad Elo was nominated chairman of USCF rating committe and already in 1961 he published the very first list of top US players in "Chess Life". Even though prof. Elo used to publish his own, unofficial International Rating Lists it was 1970 FIDE Congress held in Siegen, Germany that adopted the Elo system for official use. The first official list was to be published on 1st July 1971 and it was approved on consecutive FIDE congress in Vancouver, Canada, in August 1971.

The table below provides with all historical FIDE rating lists back from 1971 until 2001, since when all ratings are easily accessible from FIDE website. The ratings have been for many years computed and set together manually, which is why they are plenty of bugs, calculating mistakes, dupe entries, nonexistant players, terrible spellings etc. What we provide are the only available lists at the moment, so there is nothing like flawless or ratified lists. We have to live with that. To discover who and why hides behind mailformed names might be tasty challenge as well! The lists are obviously not complete, many players drop out from the list only to appear the following year, or, say, after 15 years. Another example: the 1974 list has no women at all. FIDE ID's were only introduced in 1990, so for many years there was no anchor to avoid spelling mistakes.

So, we know that FIDE ratings were worse than bad, and there are probably hundreds of bugs never to be discovered. However, this tool was NOT build to re-create the perfect, "true" history of ratings. It is to document the historical truth, even if it did not reflect real results, as it was to do. This is why, while we have been doing gigantic job of standardizing names to match 2001 lists (even if they are obviously misspelled, as you know FIDE take very little care of good spelling), but we have kept all historical records, even these duped or obviously mistaken. Where possible, manual comments were added. To keep historical character of our project, all available sources have been scanned and provided for free download. Be aware that standardization is being done all the time. Much has already been done, but there is still plenty of space for progress. Once you meet incomplete record, be sure to search for alternative spellings, as the lists prior to 1990 do only use acronyms of first names. The spelling is NOT, and will never be, standardized to match OlimpBase databases. This would be too much of work, but first of all this project is designed to provide access to historical database, even if it uses badly spelled names, sadly too common case.

To browse any list you like please use the table below. Every player has his/hers personal card (see card of Garry Kasparov) summarizing all of his past records list by list. This is still (and will be probably forever) beta version so use with caution! When no data is available one of the following is the reason: the player might be delisted (not very probable), be deceased (Elo lists in no way indicate that), be suspended like Kasparov in 1994 or players from banned federations, or be absent from the list from no reason (in most cases). Remember that the top lists do not include inactive players, while data prior to July 1999 have no active/inactive flag - sorry! - this is why Fischer is listed as No. 1 throughout the 1990s. For best search results use alphabetical list - link below.

Interesting links:

• fide.com - official FIDE rating list (2000-)
  
• benoni.de - very good online searchable database (1990-) but vulnerable (operates on ID codes, so doesn't handle federation changes correctly; loses data of deceased players too)
  
• Mark Weeks' blog - Mark's remarks on historic rating tables
  
• Mark Weeks' blog part 2 - source files
  
• All time ratings - top 10 ratings on every list 1970-1997
  
• Shakkihistoriaa: ELO Top Ten 1970-2009 - another source with all list leaders from 1970 [FI]
  
• Chessmetrics - not a real rating system but well known and respected all over the world. By Jeff Sonas
  
• Live top list - see who's virtual leader at the moment

>> Source file with 1967-2001 data (5 MB) <<

>> Source file with 2002-2009 data (38 MB) <<

Credits: Jonathan Berry, Claudiu Dobre (scans), Robert Howard (database), Jovan Petronic, Mark Weeks