Chessmetrics Ratings: 71st Birthday

#	Player	Rating	+/-
1	Lasker, Emanuel	2671	70
2	Najdorf, Miguel	2555	54
3	Smyslov, Vassily V	2555	51
4	Reshevsky, Samuel H	2521	58
5	Unzicker, Wolfgang	2494	56
6	Geller, Efim P	2488	55
7	Kholmov, Ratmir D	2486	49
8	Gligoric, Svetozar	2473	67
9	Bronstein, David I	2459	52
10	Taimanov, Mark E	2454	51

About these ratings

All players on their 71st birthday

#
Player Rating +/- Best? 75%? Rating Date

1 Lasker, Emanuel 2671 70 80.6% #1 12/31/1938: #6

2 Najdorf, Miguel 2555 54 6.8% #5 03/31/1981: #83

3 Smyslov, Vassily V 2555 51 5.8% #5 02/29/1992: #168

4 Reshevsky, Samuel H 2521 58 2.7% #8 10/31/1982: #138

5 Unzicker, Wolfgang 2494 56 0.9% #10 05/31/1996: #435

6 Geller, Efim P 2488 55 0.7% #10 02/29/1996: #469

7 Kholmov, Ratmir D 2486 49 0.3% #10 04/30/1996: #475

8 Gligoric, Svetozar 2473 67 0.9% #12 01/31/1994: #466

9 Bronstein, David I 2459 52 0.2% #12 01/31/1995: #575

10 Taimanov, Mark E 2454 51 0.1% #12 01/31/1997: #667

11 Averbakh, Yury L 2454 69 0.5% #13 01/31/1993: #554

12 Khasin, Abram I 2439 75 0.5% #14 01/31/1994: #662

13 Shamkovich, Leonid A 2395 66 #18 05/31/1994: #996

14 Suetin, Alexey S 2378 56 #18 10/31/1997: #1249

15 Pachmann, Ludek 2376 58 #19 04/30/1995: #1206

16 Bird, Henry E 2357 63 #21 12/31/1900: #33

17 Karaklajic, Nikola 2342 59 #22 01/31/1997: #1695

18 Canal, Esteban 2327 60 #23 03/31/1967: #340

19 Rossetto, Héctor D 2321 73 #25 08/31/1993: #1638

20 Benko, Pal C 2315 68 #25 07/12/1999: #1894

21 Robatsch, Karl 2310 70 #26 10/11/1999: #1951

22 Damjanovic, Mato 2309 66 #26 02/28/1998: #2102

23 Opocenskı, Karel 2297 66 #27 12/31/1962: #305

24 Soos, Bela 2277 58 #28 03/05/2001: #2303

25 Bouwmeester, Henk B 2271 63 #29 09/11/2000: #2443

26 Bondar, Anatoly T 2261 73 #31 09/30/1997: #2881

27 Dueckstein, Andreas 2258 57 #30 07/31/1998: #2952

28 Matsuo, Tomohiko 2231 72 #33 05/31/1997: #3357

29 Paoli, Enrico 2228 61 #33 12/31/1978: #633

30 Wagman, Stuart 2225 63 #33 04/30/1990: #1716

31 Tanner, Pedro 2192 74 #36 09/30/1993: #2802

32 Ridameya Tatche, Jose 2191 71 #36 07/03/2000: #3347

33 Mortimer, James 2187 70 #36 12/31/1903: #33

34 Vodep, Otto 2179 72 #37 01/10/2000: #3652

35 Hocevar, Nikola 2172 66 #37 10/09/2000: #3528

36 Winiwarter, Felix 2158 71 #38 03/19/2001: #3515

37 Levit, Roman 2144 73 #39 01/31/1995: #3735

38 Baumgartner, Walter 2136 73 #39 07/31/1994: #3443

39 Heemskerk, Fenny 2128 73 #39 11/30/1990: #2039

40 Szirmai, Eduard 2127 67 #39 01/31/2000: #4137

41 Waller, Helmut 2056 64 #41 08/31/1997: #4817

For each player on this list, the rating they possessed on their 71st birthday is listed. That rating was the last one calculated while they were 70 years of age, so it was their "current" rating on the day they turned 71. Players who played an insufficient number of games in recent years will not appear on the list, even though you may see them on lists for younger and/or older birthdays. Any players who had been completely inactive for three years are removed from the list.

Definition of columns in the above list:

# refers to the player's all-time rank on this list, compared to all other players when they turned 71.

Player is the full name of the player. Click on the player's name to see a career progression of their ratings.

Rating is the calculated rating for each player on their 71st birthday.

+/- is the standard deviation of the player's rating estimate. It is based on a geometric average of the number of rated games played in past years. Players who play very frequently will have a smaller +/- value, indicating a greater confidence in the accuracy of their rating. Players whose +/- value exceeds 76 are classified as "inactive" and removed from the ranking list due to their infrequent play against rated opponents. Mathematically, a player's rating is an estimate of their exact strength on their 71st birthday. The +/- value represents the standard deviation of that estimate; the player's true strength on their 71st birthday should be within one standard deviation of their calculated rating approximately 68% of the time, and within two standard deviations of their calculated rating approximately 95% of the time.

Best? is the estimated likelihood that the player was stronger on their 71st birthday than anyone else turning 71. Since ratings are known to be inaccurate, it is possible that a lower-rated player was actually much stronger than their rating would indicate, and it is also possible that other players were weaker than their ratings would indicate. This number indicates the likelihood that the player was indeed the strongest player ever among players turning 71. On a particular list, it will add up to 100% across the complete list of all players. This value is only calculated for the top 100 players on any rating list.

75%? gives a 75%-confidence world ranking for the player. Because ratings are known to be inaccurate, even if a particular player had the third-highest rating ever, among players turning 71, we cannot say with 100% certainty that they were truly one of the three strongest 71-year-old players. This number indicates the all-time rank that we are 75% sure the player is "no worse than". Thus if a player has a value of #12 in this column, we are 75% sure that the player is one of the twelve strongest players ever to turn 71. This value is only calculated for the top 100 players on any rating list.

Date is the exact date that the rating applied to. Click on that date to see the sorted list of all players' ratings on that date.