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Top 10 active players as of December 31, 1937

  #  

Player Rating +/-
1 Capablanca, José R271856
2 Alekhine, Alexander A270750
3 Reshevsky, Samuel H270654
4 Flohr, Salo267852
5 Lasker, Emanuel267862
6 Botvinnik, Mikhail M267556
7 Kashdan, Isaac267574
8 Fine, Reuben267251
9 Euwe, Machgielis266552
10 Keres, Paul266551

About these ratings

All active players as of December 31, 1937

  #  

Player Rating +/- Best? 75%? Age
1 Capablanca, José R27185622.4% #749.11
2 Alekhine, Alexander A27075014.1% #745.16
3 Reshevsky, Samuel H27065415.5% #826.09
4 Flohr, Salo2678525.8% #1129.13
5 Lasker, Emanuel2678628.7% #1269.01
6 Botvinnik, Mikhail M2675566.3% #1126.37
7 Kashdan, Isaac26757411.6% #1332.11
8 Fine, Reuben2672514.3% #1123.21
9 Euwe, Machgielis2665523.6% #1236.61
10 Keres, Paul2665513.4% #1221.98
11 Bogoljubow, Efim D2623550.8% #1948.71
12 Eliskases, Erich G2602530.2% #2324.87
13 Ragozin, Viacheslav V2599570.3% #2429.22
14 Riumin, Nikolay N2597660.6% #2629.31
15 Maróczy, Géza2595700.9% #2767.82
16 Tartakower, Saviely G2592560.2% #2650.85
17 Stĺhlberg, Gideon2585540.1% #2729.92
18 Pirc, Vasja2578640.3% #3030.03
19 Levenfish, Grigory Y2578560.1% #2948.80
20 Lilienthal, Andor2572590.1% #3026.65
21 Rabinovich, Ilya L2561630.1% #3446.99
22 Mikenas, Vladas256058 #3327.70
23 Vidmar, Milan Sr2559620.1% #3452.52
24 Rellstab, Ludwig Sr255659 #3533.10
25 Spielmann, Rudolf253555 #3954.65
26 Ahues, Carl O2531750.1% #4554.01
27 Frydman, Paulin252565 #4432.59
28 Petrovs, Vladimirs252356 #4330.26
29 Rauzer, Vsevolod A252364 #4529.20
30 Grünfeld, Ernst252166 #4544.10
31 Feigin, Movsa251662 #4729.84
32 Apšenieks, Fricis250663 #5043.73
33 Kan, Ilia A250362 #5028.65
34 Guimard, Carlos E250367 #5124.73
35 Gilg, Karl249867 #5336.94
36 Rödl, Ludwig249275 #5730.66
37 Sämisch, Friedrich249159 #5441.27
38 Alatortsev, Vladimir A248967 #5628.62
39 Belavenets, Sergey V248873 #5727.99
40 Engels, Ludwig248667 #5732.05
41 Steiner, Lajos248360 #5634.54
42 List, Paul M248173 #6050.99
43 Lisitsin, Georgy M247867 #5928.21
44 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander M247673 #6127.86
45 Becker, Albert247159 #6041.31
46 Richter, Kurt247061 #6137.10
47 Steiner, Endre245764 #6536.51
48 Goglidze, Victor A245768 #6632.09
49 Opocenský, Karel245559 #6545.89
50 Foltys, Jan245259 #6629.21
51 Zinner, Emil244964 #6828.35
52 Chekhover, Vitaly244867 #6929.02
53 Schmidt, Paul F244771 #7021.36
54 Michel, Pablo244766 #6932.01
55 Gereben, Ernö244274 #7230.53
56 Makogonov, Vladimir A244072 #7333.34
57 Treybal, Karel244065 #7152.91
58 Koltanowski, George243666 #7334.28
59 Budo, A.243665 #72
60 Landau, Salo243458 #7234.74
61 Yudovich, Mikhail M242971 #7626.56
62 Müller, Hans242369 #7741.08
63 Helling, Karl242370 #7733.38
64 Bolbochán, Jácobo242368 #7731.01
65 van den Bosch, Johannes H242264 #7631.71
66 Havasi, Kornél241771 #8045.97
67 Blümich, R Max241476 #8151.15
68 Panov, Vasily N241173 #8131.16
69 Pelikán, Jorge240361 #8231.68
70 Winter, William240264 #8239.30
71 Bondarevsky, Igor Z240073 #8524.63
72 Alexander, Conel H239358 #8428.69
73 Milner-Barry, Philip S239164 #8531.27
74 Réthy, Pál238967 #8732.92
75 Rubinstein, Simon238871 #87
76 Menchik, Vera F238658 #8631.87
77 Lundin, Erik238564 #8733.49
78 Koch, Berthold238473 #8938.85
79 Böök, Eero238266 #8827.89
80 Ilyin-Zhenevsky, Alexander F238166 #8943.09
81 Thomas, George A237955 #8756.54
82 Hromádka, Karel237975 #9150.68
83 Grob, Henry237265 #9033.57
84 Berger, Victor236969 #9233.92
85 Hönlinger, Baldur235971 #9532.48
86 Podhorzer, David235767 #95
87 Aitken, James M234573 #9829.17
88 Tylor, Theodore H234057 #9737.71
89 Glass, Eduard232967 #100
90 Fairhurst, William A232670 #10234.35
91 Kasparian, Genrikh M232573 #10227.84
92 Ebralidze, Archil S232573 #10228.99
93 Trifunovic, Petar232471 #10227.33
94 Bergs, Teodors232268 #10235.42
95 Skalicka, Carlos231774 #10441.16
96 Prins, Lodewijk231571 #10424.92
97 Walter, Max231475 #10441.88
98 Rogmann, Gustav230876 #10628.64
99 Dobiáš, Josef229875 #10751.01
100 Weinstock, Karl229671 #107
101 Dunkelblum, Arthur229069 31.68
102 Adam, Hermann228776
103 Hazenfuss, Volfgang R228568
104 Enevoldsen, Jens228175 30.27
105 Dyner, Israel227873
106 Weil, Wolfgang227168 25.10
107 Reinhardt, Enrique H227170 34.75
108 Villard, Feliks226573
109 Van Doesburgh, G.225376
110 Prokop, František J225274 36.45
111 Reynolds, Arthur224173
112 Fazekas, Stefan223474 39.59
113 Raud, Ilmar222470 24.74
114 van Scheltinga, Tjeerd D221976 23.81
115 Graf-Stevenson, Sonja221676 23.03
116 Thomas, Andrew220773 33.21
117 Ozols, Karlis220568
118 Bacher, Rudof217576
119 Bauer, Ra217473
120 Donegan, Alfred213771
121 Eberl, H.213773

These ratings, calculated as of December 31, 1937, incorporate all games (against rated opponents) played in the time between January 1, 1937 and December 31, 1937, along with the ratings that were already calculated as of December 31, 1936. Players who have played an insufficient number of games in recent years will not appear on the list, even though you may see them on previous and/or subsequent lists. Any players who have been completely inactive for three years are removed from the list.

Definition of columns in the above list:

# refers to the player's world rank on this list.

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

Rating is the calculated rating for the player, as of December 31, 1937. This represents the player's estimated strength on January 1, 1938.

+/- 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 January 1, 1938. The +/- value represents the standard deviation of that estimate; the player's true strength on January 1, 1938 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 actually the strongest player in the world on January 1, 1938. Since ratings are known to be inaccurate, it is possible that a lower-rated player is actually much stronger than their rating would indicate, and it is also possible that other players are weaker than their ratings would indicate. This number indicates the likelihood that the player is indeed the strongest player in the world. 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 is rated third in the world, we cannot say with 100% certainty that they are truly one of the three strongest players in the world. This number indicates the world 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 in the world. This value is only calculated for the top 100 players on any rating list.

Age is the player's exact age in years, on December 31, 1937. If a player's age is displayed as a link, that means that this rating was active at the time of their next birthday. Click on the link to see the sorted list of all players' ratings on their birthdays when turning that same age.

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