13.04.2006 ALEXANDER KENTLER. CROSSROADS: JUBILEE OF THE ELO RATING

One can’t remember how we have lived without the Elo rating. Thirty five years have elapsed from the moment when the first world rating list was published. It contained all players' coefficients that were calculated according to the system of the American professor Arpad Elo, who is the Hungarian by birth. It was some kind of revolution in the organization of chess. One can think anything about it but now the consequences of those changes are felt dramatically. And these figures will not disappear anywhere tomorrow whatever alterations will be made in the calculation of ratings

So let’s return to 1971. The four-digit numbers defining the strength of the players were received in accordance with the recalculation of results of all important tournaments of 1968-1970. The list of the strongest chessplayers was published. Robert Fisher (2740) certainly took the first place. 2785 points was his top result achieved in 1973. This record had been lasting till 1990 when Garry Kasparov first reached 2800 points. Nine years later Garry Kimovich got over another amazing height – 2850. His supremacy has been continuing for the next two decades.

It is very interesting to observe not only the result of the leader but also the coefficients of his nearest chasers. Till the middle of the nineties the tenth chessplayers of the world had ratings that hardly surpassed 2600. Now those who have such rating are in the end of the first hundred or in the top part of the second one. To come to a conclusion, ratings have been devaluated greatly for the last ten years.

Let me present a small list that will demonstrate top ten players every five years since 1971 to 2006.

1971 (July) 1.Fischer 2760, 2.Spassky 2690, 3.Korchnoi 2670, 4. Larsen 2660, 5.Petrosian 2640, 6.Polugaevsky 2640, 7.Botvinnik 2630, 8.Portisch 2630, 9.Tal 2620,10.Smyslov 2620

1976 (July) 1.Karpov 2695, 2.Korchnoi 2645, 3.Petrosian 2645, 4.Botvinnik 2630, 5.Portisch 2625, 6.Tal 2620, 7.Hort 2620, 8.Polugaevsky 2620, 9.Larsen 2615,10.Spassky 2610

1981 (July) 1.Karpov 2700, 2.Korchnoi 2695, 3.Hübner 2640, 4.Kasparov 2630, 5.Timman 2630, 6.Spassky 2630, 7.Portisch 2620, 8.Mecking 2615, 9.Beliavsky 2615, 10.Polugaevsky 2610

1986 (July) 1.Kasparov 2740, 2.Karpov 2705, 3.Yusupov 2660, 4.Korchnoy 2650, 5.Hubner 2620, 6.Spassky 2620, 7.Timman 2620, 8.A.Sokolov 2620, 9.Short 2615, 10.Portisch 2605

1991 (July) 1.Kasparov 2770, 2.Ivanchuk 2735, 3.Karpov 2730, 4.Bareev 2680, 5.Salov 2665, 6.Gelfand 2665, 7.Short 2660, 8.Beliavsky 2655, 9.Anand 2650, 10.Khalifman 2630

1996 (July) 1.Kasparov 2785, 2.Karpov 2775, 3.Kramnik 2765, 4.Topalov 2750, 5.Kamsky 2745, 6.Anand 2735, 7.Ivanchuk 2730, 8.Short 2695, 9.Adams 2685, 10. Shirov 2685

2001 (July) 1.Kasparov 2838, 2.Kramnik 2802, 3.Anand 2794, 4.Morozevich 2749, 5.Adams 2744, 6.Ivanchuk 2731, 7.Leko 2730, 8.Bareev 2719, 9.Topalov 2711, 10.Shirov 2706

2006 (April) 1.Topalov 2804, 2.Anand 2803, 3.Aronian 2756, 4.Svidler 2743, 5.Leko 2738, 6.Ponomariov 2738, 7.Morozevich 2730, 8.Kramnik 2729, 9.Gelfand 2727, 10.Ivanchuk 2723

These figures are interesting on their own and they make us remember about not so distant events that are effaced from our memory.

Of course the system of individual coefficients has some disadvantages (we also discussed it on our website) but it is necessary to give it its due. This system does a great job ranking the chessplayers in a well-defined order so as they have never rebelled against it for thirty five years.