Summary: 1840 - 2005 How to use this page
Duration: covering
Most Dominant Player between 1840 and 2005 Summary only | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 50 | Top 100
   Emanuel Lasker: 24.3 years as #1 (between June 1890 and December 1926)
The player who was ranked #1 most often between 1840 and 2005 was Emanuel Lasker, with 292 different months as the top-ranked player (a total of 24.3 years). Next on the list were Garry Kasparov (21.9 years) and Wilhelm Steinitz (14.4 years).
    Player Name   Ranked #1   Earliest/Latest as #1   Ranked #2   Earliest/Latest as #2   Ranked #3   Ranked #4   Ranked #5 
 #1  Emanuel Lasker  24.3 years  1890-Jun to 1926-Dec  4.3 years  1890-May to 1927-Feb 1.7 years  1.8 years  1.5 years 
 #2  Garry Kasparov  21.9 years  1982-Sep to 2004-Oct  1.1 years  1982-Jan to 2004-Dec 1.5 years  0.2 years  0.3 years 
 #3  Wilhelm Steinitz  14.4 years  1866-Sep to 1890-May  2.8 years  1865-Nov to 1891-Jun 7.2 years  5.0 years  1.8 years 
 #4  Mikhail Botvinnik  10.9 years  1936-Sep to 1958-May  6.3 years  1936-Jun to 1963-Dec 4.1 years  4.0 years  2.2 years 
 #5  Alexander Alekhine  10.2 years  1924-Jan to 1944-Jul  7.6 years  1913-Sep to 1945-Dec 8.2 years  2.3 years  1.3 years 
 #6  Bobby Fischer  9.1 years  1964-Feb to 1974-Jul  0.6 years  1963-Aug to 1974-Aug 0.4 years  0.9 years  0.6 years 
 #7  Anatoly Karpov  8.3 years  1974-Aug to 1985-Jan  14.9 years  1972-Nov to 1996-Oct 1.1 years  0.8 years  0.9 years 
 #8  José Capablanca  7.1 years  1914-May to 1937-Jul  10.6 years  1913-Oct to 1937-Aug 3.9 years  2.8 years  1.0 years 
 #9  Howard Staunton  6.3 years  1843-May to 1849-Aug  0.8 years  1855-Apr to 1856-Jan 0.3 years  1.5 years  0.1 years 
 #10  Vassily Smyslov  4.9 years  1952-Jan to 1958-Sep  3.6 years  1949-Jul to 1959-Sep 2.4 years  1.4 years  4.3 years 
 #11  Johannes Zukertort  4.7 years  1878-Aug to 1886-Feb  3.5 years  1876-May to 1886-Jul 0.9 years  1.8 years  2.8 years 
 #12  Louis Paulsen  3.3 years  1862-Apr to 1878-Jul  2.8 years  1862-Jan to 1880-Nov 1.8 years  2.5 years  1.8 years 
 #13  Paul Morphy  3.3 years  1858-Sep to 1861-Nov  0.2 years  1858-Aug to 1861-Dec 0.2 years  0.1 years  0.0 years 
 #14  Mikhail Tal  3.2 years  1958-Oct to 1966-Jul  2.5 years  1961-May to 1973-Jun 3.9 years  2.8 years  2.6 years 
 #15  Daniel Harrwitz  3.2 years  1853-Jan to 1856-Feb  2.1 years  1850-Mar to 1857-Apr 0.8 years  3.5 years  3.1 years 
 #16  Tigran Petrosian  2.8 years  1961-May to 1964-Jan  1.8 years  1960-Aug to 1967-May 2.1 years  4.2 years  5.6 years 
 #17  Géza Maróczy  2.5 years  1904-Oct to 1907-Mar  2.3 years  1903-Mar to 1907-Dec 4.1 years  1.6 years  1.5 years 
 #18  Serafino Dubois  2.5 years  1856-Mar to 1858-Aug  0.1 years         1856-Feb 0.1 years  0.0 years  0.8 years 
 #19  Akiba Rubinstein  2.1 years  1908-May to 1914-Apr  4.6 years  1908-Jan to 1921-Mar 2.2 years  4.3 years  1.3 years 
 #20  Lionel Kieseritzky  1.9 years  1849-Sep to 1851-Sep  3.3 years  1846-Aug to 1851-Oct 1.1 years  0.5 years  0.0 years 
 #21  Berthold Suhle  1.7 years  1865-Jun to 1867-Feb  0.8 years  1865-Feb to 1867-Jun 0.0 years  0.0 years  0.9 years 
 #22  David Bronstein  1.6 years  1950-Jun to 1951-Dec  0.3 years  1950-May to 1952-Mar 3.7 years  1.6 years  2.3 years 
 #23  Gustav Neumann  1.5 years  1868-Dec to 1870-May  2.3 years  1867-Aug to 1872-Apr 1.5 years  1.3 years  0.6 years 
 #24  Ignatz Kolisch  1.4 years  1867-Jul to 1868-Nov  2.8 years  1862-Sep to 1869-Aug 2.8 years  1.1 years  0.7 years 
 #25  Harry Pillsbury  1.3 years  1903-Jan to 1904-Apr  3.3 years  1897-Oct to 1902-Dec 2.0 years  0.4 years  2.4 years 
 #26  Tassilo von der Lasa  1.3 years  1851-Oct to 1852-Dec  2.7 years  1851-Mar to 1855-Mar 0.5 years  0.6 years  0.0 years 
 #27  Samuel Reshevsky  1.2 years  1942-Dec to 1953-Oct  2.0 years  1940-Jul to 1954-Mar 4.5 years  3.8 years  1.5 years 
 #28  Max Euwe  1.2 years  1936-Jan to 1937-Nov  1.4 years  1934-Jul to 1938-Apr 1.3 years  2.5 years  3.8 years 
 #29  James Mason  0.9 years  1877-Aug to 1878-Jun  0.8 years  1876-Oct to 1877-Jul 0.0 years  0.3 years  2.1 years 
 #30  Adolf Anderssen  0.6 years  1861-Dec to 1870-Aug  7.6 years  1851-Jul to 1873-Aug 7.4 years  3.2 years  2.1 years 
 #31  Reuben Fine  0.5 years  1940-Oct to 1941-Mar  2.5 years  1939-Jan to 1942-Feb 0.6 years  0.3 years  0.3 years 
 #32  Boris Spassky  0.5 years  1966-Jan to 1966-Aug  2.3 years  1962-Oct to 1972-Oct 4.2 years  2.7 years  2.7 years 
 #33  Dawid Janowsky  0.4 years  1904-May to 1904-Sep  0.5 years  1904-Oct to 1905-Mar 1.3 years  1.7 years  3.1 years 
 #34  Viktor Korchnoi  0.3 years  1965-Sep to 1965-Dec  11.5 years  1961-Jul to 1981-Dec 4.8 years  2.2 years  2.0 years 
 #35  John Cochrane  0.3 years  1843-Jan to 1843-Apr  0.0 years   2.2 years  1.0 years  0.0 years 
 #36  Viswanathan Anand  0.2 years  2004-Nov to 2004-Dec  5.8 years  1996-Nov to 2004-Oct 4.9 years  1.0 years  0.5 years 
 #37  Efim Bogoljubow  0.2 years  1927-Jan to 1927-Feb  0.7 years  1926-Jun to 1927-Mar 1.6 years  4.8 years  4.3 years 
 #38  Henry Buckle  0.2 years  1849-Dec to 1850-Jan  0.3 years  1849-Sep to 1850-Feb 1.0 years  1.2 years  1.3 years 
 #39  Isidor Gunsberg  0.1 years         1889-Feb  1.0 years  1888-Sep to 1889-Sep 1.9 years  0.6 years  2.0 years 
 #40  Siegbert Tarrasch  0.0 years    9.3 years  1890-Oct to 1906-Nov 3.3 years  1.7 years  2.0 years 
 #41  Joseph Blackburne  0.0 years    6.4 years  1873-Sep to 1889-Feb 4.8 years  2.6 years  2.9 years 
 #42  Paul Keres  0.0 years    4.3 years  1943-Jul to 1960-Jul 4.2 years  6.0 years  4.6 years 
 #43  Pierre Saint-Amant  0.0 years    3.6 years  1843-Jan to 1846-Jul 0.8 years  0.0 years  0.0 years 
 #44  Miguel Najdorf  0.0 years    2.8 years  1946-Jul to 1949-Jun 1.8 years  3.3 years  1.3 years 
 #45  Vladimir Kramnik  0.0 years    2.2 years  2000-Nov to 2003-Aug 5.7 years  0.9 years  1.6 years 
 #46  Isaac Kashdan  0.0 years    1.7 years  1932-Nov to 1934-Jun 0.8 years  0.9 years  0.8 years 
 #47  Mikhail Chigorin  0.0 years    1.4 years  1889-Oct to 1897-Sep 3.6 years  4.8 years  0.3 years 
 #48  Jules de Rivičre  0.0 years    1.3 years  1857-May to 1858-Jul 0.4 years  0.1 years  0.6 years 
 #49  Szymon Winawer  0.0 years    1.0 years  1878-Jul to 1880-May 1.6 years  4.3 years  1.4 years 
 #50  Salo Flohr  0.0 years    0.8 years  1935-Mar to 1936-May 2.3 years  0.8 years  1.1 years 
 #51  Johann Löwenthal  0.0 years    0.6 years  1858-Oct to 1859-Apr 2.4 years  1.3 years  2.2 years 
 #52  Aron Nimzowitsch  0.0 years    0.5 years  1913-Feb to 1913-Jul 4.9 years  1.7 years  4.0 years 
 #53  Vassily Ivanchuk  0.0 years    0.3 years  1992-May to 1992-Jul 4.7 years  3.5 years  2.5 years 
 #54  Lev Polugaevsky  0.0 years    0.3 years  1972-Jun to 1972-Aug 2.5 years  2.7 years  3.3 years 
 #55  Carl Schlechter  0.0 years    0.3 years  1906-Dec to 1907-Feb 1.6 years  7.8 years  2.1 years 
 #56  Efim Geller  0.0 years    0.3 years  1963-May to 1963-Jul 0.5 years  0.8 years  2.3 years 
 #57  Henry Bird  0.0 years    0.2 years  1876-Mar to 1876-Apr 1.3 years  0.3 years  2.3 years 
 #58  Cecil de Vere  0.0 years    0.2 years  1866-Oct to 1866-Nov 0.7 years  0.1 years  1.7 years 
 #59  Berthold Englisch  0.0 years    0.2 years  1881-Aug to 1881-Sep 0.3 years  2.1 years  0.3 years 
 #60  Frank Marshall  0.0 years    0.1 years         1913-Aug 2.9 years  2.8 years  3.3 years 
 #61  Amos Burn  0.0 years    0.1 years         1876-Sep 1.5 years  0.4 years  0.8 years 
 #62  John Schulten  0.0 years    0.1 years         1851-Jan 0.6 years  1.4 years  0.3 years 
 #63  Elijah Williams  0.0 years    0.1 years         1851-Feb 0.3 years  0.0 years  0.3 years 
 #64  Alexander Beliavsky  0.0 years    0.0 years   2.0 years  2.8 years  0.8 years 
 #65  Bernhard Horwitz  0.0 years    0.0 years   2.0 years  2.5 years  0.4 years 
 #66  Rafael Vaganian  0.0 years    0.0 years   1.3 years  0.8 years  0.4 years 
 #67  Jan Timman  0.0 years    0.0 years   1.1 years  2.4 years  3.1 years 
 #68  J Budzinsky  0.0 years    0.0 years   1.1 years  1.3 years  0.1 years 
 #69  Artur Jussupow  0.0 years    0.0 years   1.0 years  0.6 years  0.8 years 
 #70  Boncourt  0.0 years    0.0 years   1.0 years  0.0 years  0.0 years 
 #71  George Mackenzie  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.8 years  1.3 years  3.4 years 
 #72  Lajos Portisch  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.7 years  2.7 years  3.1 years 
 #73  Miksa Weiss  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.7 years  1.8 years  0.7 years 
 #74  Bent Larsen  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.7 years  0.7 years  0.8 years 
 #75  Ulf Andersson  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.6 years  0.4 years  0.3 years 
 #76  Gideon Stĺhlberg  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.4 years  0.8 years  0.8 years 
 #77  Leonid Stein  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.4 years  0.8 years  0.4 years 
 #78  Isaak Boleslavsky  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.3 years  0.7 years  1.1 years 
 #79  Adolf Schwarz  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.3 years  0.3 years  0.6 years 
 #80  John Wisker  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.2 years  0.6 years  0.3 years 
 #81  Valery Salov  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.1 years  0.9 years  2.1 years 
 #82  Alexander Kotov  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.1 years  0.9 years  0.8 years 
 #83  Saviely Tartakower  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.1 years  0.6 years  1.4 years 
 #84  Hans von Minckwitz  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.1 years  0.0 years  0.3 years 
 #85  Boris Gelfand  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  2.3 years  0.3 years 
 #86  Milan Vidmar Sr  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  1.8 years  2.8 years 
 #87  Peter Leko  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  1.7 years  1.2 years 
 #88  Alexander Morozevich  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  1.1 years  1.1 years 
 #89  Samuel Rosenthal  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  1.1 years  1.0 years 
 #90  Alexei Shirov  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.9 years  0.8 years 
 #91  Veselin Topalov  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.8 years  0.8 years 
 #92  George Walker  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.8 years  1.1 years 
 #93  Philipp Hirschfeld  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.7 years  1.5 years 
 #94  Ernst Grünfeld  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.6 years  0.8 years 
 #95  Franciscus Janssens  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.6 years  0.1 years 
 #96  Ruslan Ponomariov  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.5 years  0.4 years 
 #97  Peter Svidler  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.5 years  0.2 years 
 #98  ósef Szén  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.4 years  0.8 years 
 #99  Robert Brien  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.4 years  0.7 years 
 #100  Joseph Campbell  0.0 years    0.0 years   0.0 years  0.3 years  0.4 years 
Highest-Rated Player between 1840 and 2005 See more details
   Bobby Fischer: 2895 (October 1971)
The player who achieved the highest peak rating between 1840 and 2005 was Bobby Fischer, with a rating of 2895 on the October 1971 list. The next-highest peak ratings between 1840 and 2005 were achieved by Garry Kasparov (2886 on the March 1993 list) and Mikhail Botvinnik (2885 on the October 1945 list).
Strongest Tournament between 1840 and 2005 See more details
   Vienna, 1882: Class 21 (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #10)
The strongest tournament held between 1840 and 2005 was Vienna 1882. This was a Class 21 tournament, including nine of the top ten players in the world (from the May 1882 rating list). The next-strongest tournaments were Linares 1993 (Class 21) and Nottingham 1936 (Class 20).
Strongest Match between 1840 and 2005 See more details
   Karpov-Kasparov V (World Championship, Lyon/New York), 1990: #1 vs #2
The strongest match held between 1840 and 2005 was Karpov-Kasparov V (World Championship, Lyon/New York), 1990. This was a matchup of #1 vs #2, including #1 Garry Kasparov (2877) and #2 Anatoly Karpov (2827) from the October 1990 rating list. Next on the list were Karpov-Kasparov III (World Championship, London/Leningrad), 1986 (#1 vs #2) and Karpov-Kasparov IV (World Championship, Sevilla), 1987 (#1 vs #2).
Best Individual Event Performance between 1840 and 2005 See more details
   Anatoly Karpov: 2899 in Linares, 1994
The best individual event performance between 1840 and 2005 was achieved by Anatoly Karpov with a Chessmetrics Performance Rating of 2899 in Linares, 1994. The next-best individual event performances were achieved by Bobby Fischer (2887 performance) in Fischer-Larsen Match (Candidates semifinal, Denver), 1971, and by Emanuel Lasker (2882 performance) in Lasker-Steinitz II (World Championship, Moscow), 1896.