Summary: 1945 - 1950 How to use this page
Duration: covering
Most Dominant Player between 1945 and 1950 See more details
   Mikhail Botvinnik: 5.0 years as #1 (between January 1945 and December 1949)
The only player to be ranked #1 between 1945 and 1950 was Mikhail Botvinnik, with 60 different months as the top-ranked player (a total of 5.0 years).
Highest-Rated Player between 1945 and 1950 Summary only | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 50 | Top 100
   Mikhail Botvinnik: 2885 (October 1945)
The player who achieved the highest peak rating between 1945 and 1950 was Mikhail Botvinnik, with a rating of 2885 on the October 1945 list. The next-highest peak ratings between 1945 and 1950 were achieved by Alexander Alekhine (2797 on the January 1945 list) and Miguel Najdorf (2797 on the February 1948 list).
     Player Name       Peak Rating       World Rank (at time of Peak Rating)       Age (at time of Peak Rating)   
 #1    Mikhail Botvinnik      2885      #1 on October 1945 rating list      34y2m   
 #2    Alexander Alekhine      2797      #2 on January 1945 rating list      52y3m   
 #3    Miguel Najdorf      2797      #2 on February 1948 rating list      37y10m   
 #4    Paul Keres      2786      #2 on March 1947 rating list      31y2m   
 #5    Max Euwe      2763      #3 on December 1946 rating list      45y7m   
 #6    Gideon Stĺhlberg      2762      #3 on March 1948 rating list      40y2m   
 #7    Vassily Smyslov      2759      #2 on December 1949 rating list      28y9m   
 #8    Samuel Reshevsky      2758      #4 on June 1948 rating list      36y7m   
 #9    David Bronstein      2755      #3 on December 1949 rating list      25y10m   
 #10    Alexander Kotov      2750      #4 on December 1949 rating list      36y4m   
 #11    Isaak Boleslavsky      2747      #6 on February 1946 rating list      26y8m   
 #12    Reuben Fine      2738      #5 on December 1949 rating list      35y2m   
 #13    Vladimir Makogonov      2735      #7 on October 1945 rating list      41y2m   
 #14    Erich Eliskases      2733      #8 on January 1949 rating list      35y11m   
 #15    László Szabó      2726      #6 on December 1946 rating list      29y9m   
 #16    Folke Ekström      2714      #10 on January 1947 rating list      40y3m   
 #17    Semen Furman      2708      #11 on April 1948 rating list      27y4m   
 #18    Saviely Tartakower      2702      #11 on June 1947 rating list      60y4m   
 #19    Petar Trifunovic      2700      #12 on November 1947 rating list      37y3m   
 #20    Efim Geller      2699      #13 on December 1949 rating list      24y9m   
 #21    Viacheslav Ragozin      2699      #11 on August 1946 rating list      37y10m   
 #22    Svetozar Gligoric      2695      #13 on November 1947 rating list      24y9m   
 #23    Salo Flohr      2689      #15 on September 1946 rating list      37y10m   
 #24    Andor Lilienthal      2675      #16 on August 1948 rating list      37y3m   
 #25    Efim Bogoljubow      2674      #16 on June 1949 rating list      60y2m   
 #26    Alexander Tolush      2672      #10 on January 1945 rating list      34y8m   
 #27    Gösta Stoltz      2670      #18 on October 1946 rating list      42y5m   
 #28    Herman Pilnik      2670      #13 on August 1945 rating list      31y7m   
 #29    Alexander Konstantinopolsky      2669      #11 on July 1945 rating list      35y5m   
 #30    Vladas Mikenas      2669      #14 on December 1945 rating list      35y8m   
 #31    Yury Averbakh      2666      #17 on December 1949 rating list      27y10m   
 #32    Paul Schmidt      2665      #11 on January 1945 rating list      28y5m   
 #33    Pablo Michel      2664      #18 on January 1946 rating list      40y1m   
 #34    Erik Lundin      2661      #20 on October 1946 rating list      42y3m   
 #35    Vasja Pirc      2659      #21 on December 1949 rating list      42y0m   
 #36    Ilia Kan      2656      #15 on June 1945 rating list      36y1m   
 #37    Nikolay Novotelnov      2655      #20 on January 1948 rating list      36y1m   
 #38    Julio Bolbochán      2655      #22 on December 1949 rating list      29y9m   
 #39    Igor Bondarevsky      2654      #21 on August 1949 rating list      36y3m   
 #40    Jan Foltys      2653      #20 on November 1947 rating list      39y1m   
 #41    Gedeon Barcza      2651      #19 on January 1949 rating list      37y5m   
 #42    Vladimir Simagin      2650      #22 on October 1949 rating list      30y4m   
 #43    Vasily Panov      2649      #21 on January 1948 rating list      41y2m   
 #44    Jens Enevoldsen      2648      #21 on September 1948 rating list      41y0m   
 #45    Georgy Lisitsin      2646      #21 on June 1948 rating list      38y8m   
 #46    Mark Taimanov      2646      #25 on December 1949 rating list      23y10m   
 #47    Wolfgang Unzicker      2644      #23 on October 1948 rating list      23y4m   
 #48    Eero Böök      2642      #24 on August 1948 rating list      38y6m   
 #49    Nicolas Rossolimo      2641      #26 on December 1949 rating list      39y10m   
 #50    Al Horowitz      2641      #21 on October 1945 rating list      37y11m   
 #51    Alexey Sokolsky      2639      #18 on April 1945 rating list      36y6m   
 #52    Miroslav Katetov      2639      #20 on January 1945 rating list      26y10m   
 #53    Carlos Guimard      2639      #21 on January 1946 rating list      32y9m   
 #54    Pal Benko      2637      #26 on September 1948 rating list      20y2m   
 #55    Iosif Rudakovsky      2637      #23 on December 1945 rating list      31y11m   
 #56    Georg Kieninger      2636      #26 on October 1948 rating list      46y4m   
 #57    Ludek Pachmann      2632      #29 on December 1949 rating list      25y7m   
 #58    Héctor Rossetto      2632      #30 on December 1949 rating list      27y3m   
 #59    Isaac Kashdan      2632      #26 on January 1947 rating list      41y2m   
 #60    Gavriil Veresov      2631      #24 on July 1945 rating list      33y0m   
 #61    Arnold Denker      2626      #27 on January 1947 rating list      32y11m   
 #62    Genrikh Kasparian      2625      #31 on January 1948 rating list      37y11m   
 #63    František Zíta      2625      #23 on February 1945 rating list      35y3m   
 #64    Ratmir Kholmov      2622      #33 on December 1949 rating list      24y7m   
 #65    Albéric O'Kelly de Galway      2621      #36 on May 1948 rating list      37y0m   
 #66    Jorge Pelikán      2620      #29 on January 1946 rating list      39y9m   
 #67    Vitaly Chekhover      2619      #28 on December 1945 rating list      37y0m   
 #68    Daniel Yanofsky      2618      #31 on December 1946 rating list      21y9m   
 #69    Ludwig Rödl      2616      #32 on September 1947 rating list      40y5m   
 #70    Georgy Ilivitsky      2615      #35 on March 1949 rating list      27y11m   
 #71    Tigran Petrosian      2613      #35 on July 1947 rating list      18y1m   
 #72    Evgeny Zagoriansky      2611      #32 on July 1945 rating list      34y11m   
 #73    Vladimir Alatortsev      2609      #37 on October 1946 rating list      37y5m   
 #74    Antonio Medina García      2608      #35 on April 1946 rating list      26y6m   
 #75    Borislav Milic      2607      #34 on January 1946 rating list      20y3m   
 #76    Lev Aronin      2607      #39 on December 1949 rating list      29y5m   
 #77    Grigory Ravinsky      2606      #38 on January 1948 rating list      38y3m   
 #78    Elmars Zemgalis      2605      #42 on December 1949 rating list      26y3m   
 #79    Abram Khavin      2604      #37 on February 1946 rating list      32y1m   
 #80    Vasilje Tomovic      2603      #40 on August 1946 rating list      40y3m   
 #81    Jacob Levin      2602      #39 on January 1947 rating list      42y11m   
 #82    Peter Romanovsky      2599      #41 on July 1946 rating list      54y0m   
 #83    Conel Alexander      2598      #41 on January 1947 rating list      37y9m   
 #84    Emil Richter      2598      #38 on January 1946 rating list      52y0m   
 #85    József Szily      2597      #45 on January 1949 rating list      35y3m   
 #86    Robert Combe      2596      #43 on January 1947 rating list         -   
 #87    Jácobo Bolbochán      2596      #42 on January 1946 rating list      39y1m   
 #88    Gerald Abrahams      2592      #45 on December 1946 rating list      39y8m   
 #89    Grigory Levenfish      2591      #46 on May 1947 rating list      58y2m   
 #90    Ossip Bernstein      2591      #45 on October 1946 rating list      64y0m   
 #91    Carlos Maderna      2591      #45 on January 1946 rating list      35y5m   
 #92    A Vasiljev      2590      #48 on November 1947 rating list         -   
 #93    Moshe Czerniak      2587      #51 on December 1949 rating list      39y10m   
 #94    Vladimir Zagorovsky      2586      #50 on October 1947 rating list      22y4m   
 #95    Michel      2586      #50 on February 1949 rating list         -   
 #96    Cenek Kottnauer      2583      #50 on September 1946 rating list      36y7m   
 #97    Milan Jr Vidmar      2582      #51 on November 1947 rating list      37y11m   
 #98    Braslav Rabar      2581      #52 on September 1949 rating list      30y0m   
 #99    Herman Steiner      2580      #49 on January 1946 rating list      40y9m   
 #100    Anatoly Bannik      2579      #54 on December 1949 rating list      28y0m   
Strongest Tournament between 1945 and 1950 Summary only | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 50 | Top 100
   Groningen (Staunton Memorial), 1946: Class 14 (#1, #2, #4, #5, #10)
The strongest tournament held between 1945 and 1950 was Groningen (Staunton Memorial) 1946. This was a Class 14 tournament, including five of the top ten players in the world (from the August 1946 rating list). The next-strongest tournaments were Moscow (Chigorin Memorial) 1947 (Class 11) and The Hague/Moscow (World Championship) 1948 (Class 10).
     Event       Class       Top Ten Participation    Specific participants from top ten on rating list
 #1    Groningen (Staunton Memorial), 1946      14      #1, #2, #4, #5, #10    #1 Mikhail Botvinnik (2864), #2 Miguel Najdorf (2767), #4 Isaak Boleslavsky (2738), #5 Vassily Smyslov (2732), #10 Alexander Kotov (2704) from August 1946 rating list
 #2    Moscow (Chigorin Memorial), 1947      11      #1, #3, #5, #7, #10    #1 Mikhail Botvinnik (2823), #3 Paul Keres (2776), #5 Isaak Boleslavsky (2739), #7 Vassily Smyslov (2725), #10 Alexander Kotov (2702) from November 1947 rating list
 #3    The Hague/Moscow (World Champi, 1948      10      #1, #4, #6, #7    #1 Mikhail Botvinnik (2826), #4 Paul Keres (2754), #6 Max Euwe (2730), #7 Vassily Smyslov (2730) from March 1948 rating list
 #4    Saltsjobaden (Interzonal), 1948      10      #2, #3, #8, #9, #10    #2 Miguel Najdorf (2788), #3 Gideon Stĺhlberg (2757), #8 Isaak Boleslavsky (2731), #9 David Bronstein (2723), #10 Alexander Kotov (2720) from July 1948 rating list
 #5    Moscow (URS Championship), 1945      8      #1, #5, #8, #10    #1 Mikhail Botvinnik (2817), #5 Vassily Smyslov (2749), #8 Isaak Boleslavsky (2689), #9 Salo Flohr (2678), #10 Alexander Tolush (2669) from June 1945 rating list
 #6    Mar del Plata, 1948      8      #2, #4, #10    #2 Miguel Najdorf (2795), #4 Gideon Stĺhlberg (2760), #10 Erich Eliskases (2713) from January 1948 rating list
 #7    Leningrad (URS Championship), 1947      8      #4, #5, #6, #7    #4 Paul Keres (2746), #5 Vassily Smyslov (2729), #6 David Bronstein (2719), #7 Isaak Boleslavsky (2718) from February 1947 rating list
 #8    Buenos Aires/La Plata, 1947      7      #2, #3    #2 Miguel Najdorf (2772), #3 Max Euwe (2762) from January 1947 rating list
 #9    Mar del Plata, 1947      7      #2, #3    #2 Miguel Najdorf (2772), #3 Max Euwe (2762) from January 1947 rating list
 #10    Buenos Aires, 1948      7      #2, #4    #2 Miguel Najdorf (2795), #4 Gideon Stĺhlberg (2760) from January 1948 rating list
NOTE: "Class" is a Chessmetrics formula used to rank the strength of a tournament, by using the participation of top-10 players from the rating list (rather than just using the average rating of all participants). For more details, go here.
Strongest Match between 1945 and 1950 See more details
   Fine-Najdorf Match (New York), 1949: #2 vs #10
The strongest match held between 1945 and 1950 was Fine-Najdorf Match (New York), 1949. This was a matchup of #2 vs #10, including #2 Miguel Najdorf (2756) and #10 Reuben Fine (2732) from the January 1949 rating list. Next on the list were Najdorf-Trifunovic Match (Opatija), 1949 (#2 vs #14) and Gligoric-Stĺhlberg Match (Split/Belgrade), 1949 (#5 vs #17).
Best Individual Event Performance between 1945 and 1950 See more details
   Mikhail Botvinnik: 2850 in The Hague/Moscow (World Championship), 1948
The best individual event performance between 1945 and 1950 was achieved by Mikhail Botvinnik with a Chessmetrics Performance Rating of 2850 in The Hague/Moscow (World Championship), 1948. The next-best individual event performances were achieved by Mikhail Botvinnik (2819 performance) in Moscow (URS Championship), 1945, and by Gideon Stĺhlberg (2817 performance) in Buenos Aires/La Plata, 1947.