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Top 10 players on their 72nd birthday

  #  

Player Rating +/-
1 Najdorf, Miguel254755
2 Golmayo Zupide, Celso F254166
3 Smyslov, Vassily V253450
4 Reshevsky, Samuel H252665
5 Kholmov, Ratmir D250950
6 Gligoric, Svetozar249263
7 Geller, Efim P248761
8 Taimanov, Mark E247749
9 Bronstein, David I246851
10 Szabó, László246073

About these ratings

All players on their 72nd birthday

  #  

Player Rating +/- Best? 75%? Rating Date
1 Najdorf, Miguel 25475522.7%#503/31/1982: #96
2 Golmayo Zupide, Celso F 25416623.2%#612/31/1891: #10
3 Smyslov, Vassily V 25345013.7%#602/28/1993: #224
4 Reshevsky, Samuel H 25266515.7%#710/31/1983: #139
5 Kholmov, Ratmir D 2509506.3%#804/30/1997: #350
6 Gligoric, Svetozar 2492636.0%#901/31/1995: #388
7 Geller, Efim P 2487614.8%#1002/28/1997: #469
8 Taimanov, Mark E 2477491.5%#1001/31/1998: #482
9 Bronstein, David I 2468511.3%#1001/31/1996: #556
10 Szabó, László 2460733.7%#1202/28/1989: #408
11 Unzicker, Wolfgang 2443550.6%#1205/31/1997: #713
12 Bird, Henry E 2381710.2%#1612/31/1901: #29
13 Pachmann, Ludek 237060#1604/30/1996: #1393
14 Suetin, Alexey S 236957#1610/31/1998: #1315
15 Shamkovich, Leonid A 2369690.1%#1605/31/1995: #1288
16 Karaklajic, Nikola 235862#1701/31/1998: #1431
17 Canal, Esteban 231566#1903/31/1968: #353
18 Dueckstein, Andreas 226561#2108/02/1999: #2590
19 Bouwmeester, Henk B 226571#2209/10/2001: #2554
20 Wagman, Stuart 223269#2304/30/1991: #1910
21 Paoli, Enrico 222969#2412/31/1979: #623
22 Mortimer, James 219068#2612/31/1904: #50
23 Christoffel, Martin 218870#2608/31/1994: #3175
24 Viner, Phillip 217074#2711/08/1999: #3682
25 Beggi, Pierluigi 216568#2708/31/1998: #4375
26 Ridameya Tatche, Jose 215967#2707/02/2001: #3619
27 Vatnikov, Josif E 213973#2801/31/1995: #3776
28 Lipiniks, Leonardo 213275#2803/31/1996: #4255
29 Szirmai, Eduard 211768#2901/29/2001: #4021
30 Waller, Helmut 204369#3008/31/1998: #5056

For each player on this list, the rating they possessed on their 72nd birthday is listed. That rating was the last one calculated while they were 71 years of age, so it was their "current" rating on the day they turned 72. 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 72.

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 72nd 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 72nd birthday. The +/- value represents the standard deviation of that estimate; the player's true strength on their 72nd 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 72nd birthday than anyone else turning 72. 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 72. 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 72, we cannot say with 100% certainty that they were truly one of the three strongest 72-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 72. 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.

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