2/27/2019 – Which are the commonest words in the English language, which are the most common girls' and boys' names? Today it is possible to calculate these things fairly easily, but it becomes really useful if you are able to present the results in a comprehensible way. Like with dynamic graphs and bubbling. This was done very nicely for historical chess strength in 2016 by Abacaba, a site that makes videos about data and math. Now a YouTube channel called TheRanker has published a 10-minute video visualisation tracking official FIDE ratings from 2000 to the present. It is informative, interesting and even relaxing to watch.
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This visualisation tracks FIDE ratings of the top 20 players starting from July 27, 2000, through February 24th, 2019. There are a lot of interesting features that pop out, such as the rapid ascendence of Magnus Carlsen beginning in June 2007, or the extreme variability of Vassily Ivanchuk. You'll notice certain players disappear, such as when Garry Kasparov abruptly retired in 2005 while still number one. Others see more gradual moves up and down.
Want more? For reference, here's the 2016 Abacaba visualization charting the history of top chess players over time. The video presents historical ratings of the top ten players for any given time are tracked. This video is six minutes long, and you would do well to maximize the YouTube player, lean back, sip your coffee (or chai) and enjoy this extraordinary presentation.
Try to spot patterns, e.g. at what age do players enter the group of top ten; do most players peak in their twenties; how dominating were the top players; how long did they stay in place one; who were the oldest ones that were still in the top ten? Feel free to post your observations in our comments section below.
Frederic FriedelEditor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
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