Today, FIDE commemorated the official introduction of Elo ratings on 1 July 1971.
Top trainers strongly recommend regular study of well-explained classical games to improve your understanding of chess in the long term. 33 modern classics are explained in details on this video course.
In fact, Elo lists had existed since June 1967, but they were not yet official at that time.
Below is the list of the top 100 players as of 1 July 1971 (source: olimpbase.org). Robert Fischer tops the ranking as the only player rated above 2700, with a commanding lead. Noteworthy are Mikhail Botvinnik's seventh place (born 1911) and Paul Keres' eleventh place (born 1916), the two oldest players in the top 20. At just 22 years old, Robert Hübner was already the highest-ranked German player in July 1971, placed 17th, and also the youngest player in the top 20.
At that time, there were far fewer professional chess players, and the level of competition was nowhere near as dense as it is today. Perhaps it is realistic to add around 100 points to the historical ratings to make a rough comparison with trough comparison with today's ratings. This also gives a sense of how far ahead Fischer was of his contemporaries.
Top 100, 1 July 1971
pos Player_ID Name Title Fed Rtng +/- gms Birthday Sex Flag
1 Fischer, Robert James g USA 2760 +20 1943.03.09
2 Spassky, Boris V. g URS 2690 0 1937.01.30
3 Korchnoi, Viktor g URS 2670 +10 1931.03.23
4 Larsen, Bent g DEN 2660 0 1935.03.04
5 Petrosian, Tigran g URS 2640 0 1929.06.17
5= Polugaevsky, Lev g URS 2640 +10 1934.11.20
7 Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2630 0 1937.04.04
7= Botvinnik, Mikhail g URS 2630 0 1911.08.17
9 Smyslov, Vassily g URS 2620 0 1921.03.24
9= Tal, Mikhail N. g URS 2620 +10 1936.11.09
11 Geller, Efim P. g URS 2615 -15 1925.03.08
11= Keres, Paul g URS 2615 +15 1916.01.07
13 Hort, Vlastimil g CSR 2605 +5 1944.01.12
13= Stein, Leonid g URS 2605 -15 1934.11.12
15 Taimanov, Mark E. g URS 2600 -20 1926.02.07
15= Gligoric, Svetozar g YUG 2600 0 1923.02.02
17 Huebner, Robert g GER 2590 0 1948.11.06
17= Bronstein, David I. g URS 2590 0 1924.02.19
19 Gipslis, Aivars g URS 2580 0 1937.02.08
20 Krogius, Nikolai V. g URS 2575 -5 1930.07.22
21 Panno, Oscar g ARG 2570 0 1932.03.12
21= Uhlmann, Wolfgang g GDR 2570 -10 1935.03.29
21= Olafsson, Fridrik g ISL 2570 0 1935.01.26
21= Balashov, Yuri S. m URS 2570 0 1949.03.12
21= Savon, Vladimir A. m URS 2570 0 1940.09.26
21= Vasiukov, Evgeni g URS 2570 0 1933.03.05
27 Tukmakov, Vladimir B. g URS 2565 -15 1946.03.15
28 Boleslavsky, Isaak g URS 2560 0 1919.06.09
28= Kuzmin, Gennadi P. URS 2560 0 1946.01.19
28= Suetin, Alexey S. g URS 2560 0 1926.11.16
28= Ivkov, Borislav g YUG 2560 -10 1933.11.12
32 Schmid, Lothar g GER 2550 0 1928.05.10
32= Averbakh, Yuri L. g URS 2550 0 1922.02.08
32= Kholmov, Ratmir D. g URS 2550 0 1925.05.13
32= Evans, Larry M. g USA 2550 0 1932.03.22
32= Kavalek, Lubomir g USA 2550 +10 1943.08.09
32= Reshevsky, Samuel H. g USA 2550 -10 1911.11.26
38 Unzicker, Wolfgang g GER 2545 +5 1925.06.26
39 Mecking, Henrique m BRA 2540 -10 1952.01.23
39= Darga, Klaus g GER 2540 -10 1934.02.24
39= Furman, Semyen A. g URS 2540 -10 1920.12.01
39= Gurgenidze, Bukhuti g URS 2540 0 1933.11.13
39= Karpov, Anatoly g URS 2540 0 1951.05.23
39= Liberzon, Vladimir M. g URS 2540 0 1937.03.23
39= Lutikov, Anatoly S. m URS 2540 0 1933.02.05
39= Osnos, Viatcheslav m URS 2540 0 1935.07.24
47 Najdorf, Miguel g ARG 2530 -30 1910.04.15
47= Sanguinetti, Raul m ARG 2530 0 1933.02.03
47= Gheorghiu, Florin g ROM 2530 -10 1944.04.06
47= Podgaets, Mikhail URS 2530 0 1947.07.23
47= Zaitsev, Alexander g URS 2530 +10 1935.05.16
47= Matulovic, Milan g YUG 2530 -20 1935.06.10
47= Parma, Bruno g YUG 2530 +20 1941.12.30
54 Szabo, Laszlo g HUN 2525 +15 1917.03.19
55 Gufeld, Eduard g URS 2520 0 1936.03.19
55= Shamkovich, Leonid g URS 2520 0 1923.06.01
55= Zaitsev, Igor A. m URS 2520 0 1938.05.27
55= Benko, Pal C. g USA 2520 -30 1928.07.15
55= Lombardy, William J. g USA 2520 0 1937.12.04
55= Matanovic, Aleksandar g YUG 2520 0 1930.05.23
61 Smejkal, Jan m CSR 2515 +5 1946.03.22
61= Pfleger, Helmut m GER 2515 +5 1943.08.06
63 Filip, Miroslav g CSR 2510 0 1928.10.27
63= Pachman, Ludek g CSR 2510 0 1924.05.11
63= Markland, Peter R. ENG 2510 1951.04.12
63= Pomar Salamanca, Arturo g ESP 2510 +10 1931.09.01
63= Ozsvath, Andras HUN 2510 +160 1929.08.19
63= Andersson, Ulf m SWE 2510 +30 1951.06.27
63= Antoshin, Vladimir S. g URS 2510 -10 1929.05.14
63= Bagirov, Vladimir m URS 2510 0 1936.08.16
63= Kotov, Alexander g URS 2510 0 1913.08.12
63= Lein, Anatoly g URS 2510 0 1931.03.28
63= Vaganian, Rafael A. URS 2510 +30 1951.10.15
63= Byrne, Robert E. g USA 2510 -10 1928.04.20
63= Ljubojevic, Ljubomir m YUG 2510 0 1950.11.02
63= Planinc, Albin m YUG 2510 0 1944.04.18
77 Bolbochan, Julio m ARG 2500 0 1920.03.20
77= Browne, Walter S. g AUS 2500 -10 1949.01.10
77= Sigurjonsson, Gudmundur m ISL 2500 0 1947.09.25
77= Donner, Jan-Hein g NED 2500 0 1927.07.06
77= Kupreichik, Viktor D. URS 2500 0 1949.07.03
82 Nei, Iivo m URS 2495 -5 1931.10.31
83 Tringov, Georgi P. g BUL 2490 0 1937.03.07
83= Hamann, Svend m DEN 2490 0 1940.10.08
83= Barcza, Gedeon g HUN 2490 +10 1911.08.21
83= Bilek, Istvan g HUN 2490 -10 1932.08.11
83= Nikolaevsky, Yuri V. URS 2490 0 1937.02.xx
83= Sakharov, Yuri N. URS 2490 0 1922.09.18
83= Addison, Wiliam G. m USA 2490 0 1933.11.28
83= Ciric, Dragoljub M. g YUG 2490 -10 1935.11.12
83= Damjanovic, Mato g YUG 2490 -10 1927.03.23
83= Karaklajic, Nikola m YUG 2490 0 1926.02.24
83= Kurajica, Bojan m YUG 2490 0 1947.11.15
83= Minic, Dragoljub m YUG 2490 0 1937.03.05
83= Velimirovic, Dragoljub m YUG 2490 0 1942.05.12
96 Bobotsov, Milko G. g BUL 2485 +15 1931.09.30
96= Radulov, Ivan m BUL 2485 +45 1939.01.07
96= Forintos, Gyozo V. m HUN 2485 -15 1935.07.30
96= Lengyel, Levente g HUN 2485 -5 1933.06.13
100 Suttles, Duncan m CAN 2480 0 1945.12.21
The rating system is based on a formula developed for chess by the Hungarian-American mathematician Arpad Elo. Since then, a number of other sports have adopted his formula to calculate their rankings, including FIFA, the world governing body of football. The scale used by FIFA is different, but the applied formula follows the Elo model.
The following text originally appeared on this website in 2003 to mark the 100th birthday of Arpad Elo. Perhaps not everyone read it at the time. Therefore, we are reproducing it here.
Arpad Elo on his 100th birthday
By André Schulz / 29 August 2003
Smyslov cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Vasily Smyslov.Arpad Emrick Elo was born on 25 August 1903 in Pápa, Hungary, the son of a farmer. At the age of 10, he emigrated to the United States. In Cleveland, he saw chess pieces in a shop, which prompted him to teach himself the game using a volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica from the school library.
He studied physics at the University of Chicago and began teaching as a professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1926, remaining there until he retired in 1969. Afterwards, he continued to teach part-time at the University of Wisconsin.
Chess remained his beloved hobby. He participated in many tournaments, playing against well-known players such as Reuben Fine, Isaac Kashdan and even Bobby Fischer, and won 40 of them. In 1935, he became Wisconsin state champion for the first time, a title he would win eight times in total. He placed 7th at the 1940 U.S. Open.
Elo was instrumental in founding the United States Chess Federation (USCF), which was created in 1939 through the merger of the American Chess Federation (formerly known as the Western Chess Federation), of which Elo was president from 1935 to 1937, and the National Chess Federation. He also served on the board of the new organisation.
In 1959, USCF President Jerry Spann asked Elo to improve the rating system developed by Kenneth Harkness, since the system had several weaknesses. Under certain conditions, for instance, a player could lose every game and still gain rating points - or, inversely, to win every game and still lose points.
The new Elo system was adopted by the USCF in 1960 and by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1970. For many years, Arpad Elo manually calculated FIDE ratings on his HP calculator.
In 1978, Elo published "The Rating of Chessplayers Past and Present", in which he introduced his rating system and also presented a ranking of historical players.
Towards the end of his life, Elo expressed disappointment with how the chess world had used his formula: "Sometimes I think I created Frankenstein's monster! Young players care more about their Elo rating than what's happening on the board."
Arpad Elo passed away on 5 November 1992 at the age of 89.
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