List of chess players by peak FIDE rating

This is the list of top-ranked chess grandmasters, ordered by their peak Elo rating. The cut-off value is 2700 (players with a rating at or above this value are colloquially known as super grandmasters).

Notably only six players achieved their over-2700 peak before the year 2000 and twenty-one players achieved their respective peak between the years 2000 and 2009 (inclusive).

List[edit]

FIDE players ordered by peak Elo rating^[1]^[2]
	Player	Peak rating	Achieved	Birth year	Death year	Notes
2800+[edit]
1	Magnus Carlsen	2882	2014-05	1990		Highest-ranked player (2013–), world no. 1 (2010, 2011, 2011–), current World Chess Champion (2013–)
2	Garry Kasparov	2851	1999-07	1963		Highest-ranked Russian player, formerly world no. 1 (1984–1993, 1995–2006), former world champion (1985–2000), first player to achieve 2800+ rating, formerly highest-ranked player (1990–2012), highest-ranked Soviet-born player
3	Fabiano Caruana	2844	2014-10	1992		Highest-ranked American player, formerly highest-ranked Italian player
4	Levon Aronian	2830	2014-03	1982		Formerly highest-ranked Armenian player
5	Wesley So	2822	2017-02	1993		Highest-ranked Filipino-born player, formerly highest-ranked Filipino player, inaugural, former and longest reigning FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Champion (2019–2022)
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2820	2018-09	1985		Highest-ranked Azerbaijani player
7	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2819	2016-08	1990		Highest-ranked French player
8=	Viswanathan Anand	2817	2011-03	1969		Highest-ranked Indian player, former world champion (2007–2013, FIDE 2000–2002), formerly world no. 1 (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011)
8=	Vladimir Kramnik	2817	2016-10	1975		Former world champion (2000–2007), formerly world no. 1 (2008), formerly youngest player to achieve 2800+ rating
10=	Veselin Topalov	2816	2015-07	1975		Highest-ranked Bulgarian player, former world champion (FIDE 2005–2006), formerly world no. 1 (2006–2007, 2009)
10=	Hikaru Nakamura	2816	2015-10	1987		Highest-ranked Japanese-born player, reigning FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Champion (from 2022)
10=	Ding Liren	2816	2018-11	1992		Highest-ranked Chinese player
13	Alexander Grischuk	2810	2014-12	1983
14	Alireza Firouzja	2804	2021-12	2003		Highest-ranked Iranian-born player, formerly highest-ranked Iranian player, highest-ranked junior, youngest player to achieve 2800+ rating
2775–2799[edit]
15	Anish Giri	2798	2015-10	1994		Highest-ranked Dutch player
16	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2795	2023-03	1990
17	Teimour Radjabov	2793	2012-10	1987
18=	Alexander Morozevich	2788	2008-07	1977
18=	Sergey Karjakin	2788	2011-07	1990		Highest-ranked Ukrainian-born player, formerly youngest grandmaster (2002–2021)
20	Vassily Ivanchuk	2787	2007-10	1969		Highest-ranked Ukrainian player
21	Bobby Fischer	2785	1972-07	1943	2008	Former world champion (1972–1975), formerly highest-ranked player (1971–1989), formerly world no. 1 (1971–1975), formerly youngest grandmaster (1958–1991), first player to achieve 2700+ rating
22	Anatoly Karpov	2780	1994-07	1951		Former world champion (1975–1985, FIDE 1993–1999), formerly world no. 1 (1976–1983, 1994)
23	Boris Gelfand	2777	2013-11	1968		Highest-ranked Israeli player, formerly highest-ranked Belarusian player
24	Richard Rapport	2776	2022-04	1996		Highest-ranked Romanian player, formerly highest-ranked Hungarian player
2750–2774[edit]
25	Pentala Harikrishna	2770	2016-12	1986
26	Peter Svidler	2769	2013-05	1976
27	Leinier Dominguez Perez	2768	2014-05	1983		Highest-ranked Cuban-born player, formerly highest-ranked Cuban player
28=	Pavel Eljanov	2765	2016-03	1983
28=	Yu Yangyi	2765	2018-09	1994
30	Ruslan Ponomariov	2764	2011-07	1983		Former world chess champion (FIDE 2002–2004), formerly youngest grandmaster (1997–1999)
31=	Peter Leko	2763	2005-04	1979		Formerly youngest grandmaster (1994–1997)
31=	Gata Kamsky	2763	2013-07	1974
31=	Wang Hao	2763	2020-04	1989
34=	Vugar Gashimov	2761	2012-01	1986	2014
34=	Michael Adams	2761	2013-09	1971		Highest-ranked English player
34=	Vladislav Artemiev	2761	2019-06	1998
37=	Dmitry Jakovenko	2760	2009-01	1983
37=	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2760	2021-12	1998		Highest-ranked Polish player
39=	Evgeny Tomashevsky	2758	2015-09	1987
39=	Li Chao	2758	2016-06	1989
41	Wang Yue	2756	2010-11	1987
42	Alexei Shirov	2755	2008-01	1972		Highest-ranked Spanish player, formerly highest-ranked Latvian player
43	Wei Yi	2753	2017-08	1999		Youngest player to reach a rating over 2700
44=	Sergei Movsesian	2751	2009-01	1978		Formerly highest-ranked Slovak player
44=	David Navara	2751	2015-05	1985		Highest-ranked Czech player
44=	Nikita Vitiugov	2751	2019-11	1987
47	Radosław Wojtaszek	2750	2017-01	1987
2725–2749[edit]
48	Étienne Bacrot	2749	2013-11	1983		Formerly highest-ranked French player, formerly youngest grandmaster (1997)
49	Dmitry Andreikin	2743	2016-06	1990
50=	Evgeny Bareev	2739	2003-10	1966		Highest-ranked Canadian player
50=	Lê Quang Liêm	2739	2017-08	1991		Highest-ranked Vietnamese player
52	Maxim Matlakov	2738	2017-11	1991
53	Arkadij Naiditsch	2737	2013-12	1985		Formerly highest-ranked German player
54	Judit Polgár	2735	2005-07	1976		Highest-ranked female player; first and only female player to achieve 2700+ rating, formerly youngest grandmaster (1991–1994)
55=	Viktor Bologan	2734	2012-08	1971		Highest-ranked Moldovan player
55=	Baadur Jobava	2734	2012-09	1983		Highest-ranked Georgian player
55=	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2734	2023-02	2004		Highest-ranked Uzbek player
58	Vladimir Fedoseev	2733	2017-10	1995
59=	Vladimir Malakhov	2732	2010-07	1980
59=	Ernesto Inarkiev	2732	2016-09	1985
59=	Dommaraju Gukesh	2732	2022-10	2006
62=	Bu Xiangzhi	2731	2019-02	1985		Formerly youngest grandmaster (1999–2002)
62=	Samuel Shankland	2731	2019-02	1991
64	Vidit Gujrathi	2730	2022-11	1994
65=	Arjun Erigaisi	2728	2022-10	2003
65=	Parham Maghsoodloo	2728	2023-02	2000		Highest-ranked Iranian player
67=	Zoltán Almási	2726	2011-07	1976
67=	Alexander Moiseenko	2726	2011-09	1980
69=	Evgeny Alekseev	2725	2009-09	1985
69=	Andrei Volokitin	2725	2013-03	1986
2700–2724[edit]
71=	Ni Hua	2724	2009-04	1983
71=	Francisco Vallejo Pons	2724	2011-07	1982		Formerly highest-ranked Spanish player (when Shirov represented Latvia)
73=	Anton Korobov	2723	2014-01	1985
73=	Andrey Esipenko	2723	2022-02	2002
75=	Krishnan Sasikiran	2720	2012-05	1981
75=	Alexander Riazantsev	2720	2012-07	1985
77=	Alexander Areshchenko	2720	2012-12	1986
77=	Laurent Fressinet	2720	2015-06	1981
77=	Daniil Dubov	2720	2021-12	1996
80	Ivan Cheparinov	2718	2018-08	1986
81=	Lazaro Bruzon Batista	2717	2012-10	1982
81=	Yuriy Kryvoruchko	2717	2015-11	1986
83=	Valery Salov	2715	1995-01	1964
83=	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2715	2015-05	1979		Former world chess champion (FIDE 2004–2005)
83=	Kirill Alekseenko	2715	2019-11	1997
83=	Jorden van Foreest	2715	2022-05	1999
87=	Loek van Wely	2714	2001-10	1972
87=	Denis Khismatullin	2714	2014-03	1984
89=	Vladimir Akopian	2713	2006-07	1971
89=	Luke McShane	2713	2012-07	1984
91=	Nigel Short	2712	2004-04	1965
91=	David Howell	2712	2015-08	1990
91=	Bassem Amin	2712	2019-01	1988		Highest-ranked Egyptian player
91=	Jeffery Xiong	2712	2019-11	2000
91=	Sanan Sjugirov	2712	2022-11	1993
96=	Alexey Dreev	2711	2011-07	1969
96=	Gabriel Sargissian	2702	2015-12	1983
98=	Alexander Beliavsky	2710	1997-07	1953		Highest-ranked Slovenian player
98=	Alexander Motylev	2710	2009-07	1979
98=	Maxim Rodshtein	2710	2016-03	1989
98=	Bogdan-Daniel Deac	2710	2022-09	2001
102=	Rauf Mamedov	2709	2017-12	1988
102=	Gawain Jones	2709	2019-06	1987
104	Zahar Efimenko	2708	2011-03	1985
105=	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	2707	2005-10	1976		Highest-ranked German player, formerly highest-ranked Romanian player
105=	Evgeny Najer	2707	2017-08	1977
107=	Ivan Sokolov	2706	2004-01	1968		Formerly highest-ranked Bosnian player
107=	Ferenc Berkes	2706	2011-09	1985
107=	Sergei Rublevsky	2706	2013-11	1974
107=	Hans Niemann	2706	2023-01	2003
111=	Mikhail Tal	2705	1980-01	1936	1992	Former world champion (1960–1961)
111=	Vadim Milov	2705	2008-07	1972		Highest-ranked Swiss player
111=	Boris Grachev	2705	2012-03	1986
111=	Jon Ludvig Hammer	2705	2016-02	1990
115	Viktor Láznička	2704	2012-01	1989
116=	Emil Sutovsky	2703	2012-01	1977
116=	Markus Ragger	2703	2017-02	1988		Highest-ranked Austrian player
116=	Vladislav Kovalev	2703	2019-02	1994		Highest-ranked Belarusian player
116=	Ivan Šarić	2703	2019-03	1990		Highest-ranked Croatian player
116=	David Antón Guijarro	2703	2020-03	1995
116=	Samuel Sevian	2703	2022-05	2000
122=	Michał Krasenkow	2702	2000-07	1963
122=	Ilia Smirin	2702	2001-07	1968
122=	Alexander Khalifman	2702	2001-10	1966		Former world chess champion (FIDE 1999–2000)
122=	Zurab Azmaiparashvili	2702	2003-07	1960
122=	Romain Edouard	2702	2014-06	1990
122=	Igor Kovalenko	2702	2015-08	1988
122=	Ray Robson	2702	2022-11	1994
129=	Alexander Onischuk	2701	2010-07	1975
129=	Adhiban Baskaran	2701	2019-04	1992
131=	Peter Heine Nielsen	2700	2010-07	1973		Highest-ranked Danish player
131=	Igor Lysyj	2700	2015-01	1987
131=	Vincent Keymer	2700	2022-10	2004

Highest ratings by decade[edit]

This section lists the top 20 active^[a] players by peak FIDE rating achieved in every decade since 1971, when FIDE started officially publishing rating lists.

1970s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 1970s
	Player	Peak rating in 1970s	Achieved
1	Bobby Fischer	2785	1972-07
2	Anatoly Karpov	2725	1978-01
3	Viktor Korchnoi	2695	1979-01
4	Boris Spassky	2690	1971-07
5=	Bent Larsen	2660	1971-07
5=	Mikhail Tal	2660	1973-07
7	Lajos Portisch	2650	1973-07
8=	Tigran Petrosian	2645	1972-07
8=	Lev Polugaevsky	2645	1972-07
10	Henrique Mecking	2635	1977-01
11	Mikhail Botvinnik	2630	1971-07
12=	Lubomir Kavalek	2625	1974-05
12=	Jan Timman	2625	1979-01
14=	Vassily Smyslov	2620	1971-07
14=	Leonid Stein	2620	1972-07
14=	Ljubomir Ljubojević	2620	1976-01
14=	Efim Geller	2620	1976-01
14=	Vlastimil Hort	2620	1977-01
19=	Paul Keres	2615	1971-07
19=	Robert Hübner	2615	1974-05
19=	Jan Smejkal	2615	1976-01

1980s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 1980s
	Player	Peak rating in 1980s	Achieved
1	Garry Kasparov	2775	1989-01
2	Anatoly Karpov	2755	1989-07
3	Mikhail Tal	2705	1980-01
4	Viktor Korchnoi	2695	1980-01
5	Jan Timman	2675	1988-01
6	Nigel Short	2665	1988-07
7=	Artur Yusupov	2660	1986-07
7=	Vassily Ivanchuk	2660	1989-07
9=	Lajos Portisch	2655	1980-01
9=	Alexander Beliavsky	2655	1988-07
11=	Ljubomir Ljubojević	2645	1983-01
11=	Rafael Vaganian	2645	1986-01
11=	Andrei Sokolov	2645	1987-01
11=	Jonathan Speelman	2645	1988-07
11=	Valery Salov	2645	1989-07
16=	Robert Hübner	2640	1981-07
16=	Ulf Andersson	2640	1983-07
16=	Mikhail Gurevich	2640	1989-07
19=	Lev Polugaevsky	2635	1980-01
19=	Boris Spassky	2635	1981-01

1990s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 1990s
	Player	Peak rating in 1990s	Achieved
1	Garry Kasparov	2851	1999-07
2	Viswanathan Anand	2795	1998-07
3	Vladimir Kramnik	2790	1998-01
4	Anatoly Karpov	2780	1994-07
5	Alexander Morozevich	2758	1999-07
6	Veselin Topalov	2750	1996-07
7	Gata Kamsky	2745	1996-07
8	Alexei Shirov	2740	1994-07
8=	Vassily Ivanchuk	2740	1995-07
10	Michael Adams	2716	1999-01
11	Valery Salov	2715	1995-01
12	Peter Svidler	2713	1999-01
12=	Boris Gelfand	2713	1999-07
14	Alexander Beliavsky	2710	1997-07
15	Peter Leko	2701	1999-07
16	Evgeny Bareev	2698	1999-07
17	Nigel Short	2697	1999-01
18	Sergei Rublevsky	2685	1998-07
19	Zurab Azmaiparashvili	2681	1999-01
20=	Jan Timman	2680	1990-01
20=	Artur Yusupov	2680	1995-07

2000s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 2000s
	Player	Peak rating in 2000s	Achieved
1	Garry Kasparov	2851	2000-01
2	Veselin Topalov	2813	2006-07
3	Vladimir Kramnik	2811^[b]	2002-01
4	Viswanathan Anand	2803	2006-04
5	Magnus Carlsen	2801	2009-11
6	Alexander Morozevich	2788	2008-07
7	Vassily Ivanchuk	2787	2007-10
8	Levon Aronian	2786	2009-11
9	Peter Svidler	2765	2006-01
10	Peter Leko	2763	2005-04
11	Teimour Radjabov	2761	2009-01
12=	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2760	2008-01
12=	Dmitry Jakovenko	2760	2009-01
14	Vugar Gashimov	2758	2009-11
14=	Boris Gelfand	2758	2009-11
16=	Alexei Shirov	2755	2008-01
16=	Michael Adams	2755	2000-07
18	Sergei Movsesian	2751	2009-01
19	Alexander Grischuk	2748	2009-04
20	Ruslan Ponomariov	2743	2002-04

2010s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 2010s
	Player	Peak rating in 2010s	Achieved
1	Magnus Carlsen	2882	2014-05
2	Fabiano Caruana	2844	2014-10
3	Levon Aronian	2830	2014-03
4	Wesley So	2822	2017-02
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2820	2018-09
6	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2819	2016-08
7=	Viswanathan Anand	2817	2011-03
7=	Vladimir Kramnik	2817	2016-10
9=	Veselin Topalov	2816	2015-07
9=	Hikaru Nakamura	2816	2015-10
9=	Ding Liren	2816	2018-11
12	Alexander Grischuk	2810	2014-12
13	Anish Giri	2798	2015-10
14	Teimour Radjabov	2793	2012-11
15	Sergey Karjakin	2788	2011-07
16	Vassily Ivanchuk	2779	2011-03
17	Boris Gelfand	2777	2013-11
18	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2776	2019-09
19=	Alexander Morozevich	2770	2012-07
19=	Pentala Harikrishna	2770	2016-12

2020s[edit]

Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 2020s
	Player	Peak rating in 2020s	Achieved
1	Magnus Carlsen	2872	2020-02
2	Fabiano Caruana	2842	2020-02
3	Ding Liren	2811	2022-10
4	Alireza Firouzja	2804	2021-12
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2795	2023-03
6	Levon Aronian	2785	2022-03
7	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2784	2020-10
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2782	2021-07
9	Anish Giri	2780	2021-05
10=	Alexander Grischuk	2778	2021-07
10=	Wesley So	2778	2021-09
12	Richard Rapport	2776	2022-04
13	Hikaru Nakamura	2768	2022-08
14	Teimour Radjabov	2765	2020-01
15	Wang Hao	2763	2020-04
16=	Leinier Dominguez Perez	2760	2021-09
16=	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2760	2021-12
18=	Viswanathan Anand	2758	2020-01
18=	Sergey Karjakin	2758	2021-09
20	Vladimir Kramnik	2753	2020-01

List of rating peaks throughout history[edit]


Player	Rating	Achieved
Bobby Fischer	2760	1971-07
Bobby Fischer	2785	1972-07
Garry Kasparov	2800	1990-01
	2805	1993-01
	2815	1993-07
	2820	1997-07
	2825	1998-01
	2851	1999-07
Magnus Carlsen	2861	2013-01
	2872	2013-02
	2881	2014-03
	2882	2014-05 2019-08

Notes[edit]

^ FIDE considers a player active if they played a rated game within the past 12 months.^[3]
^ The chart on Kramnik's FIDE profile gives his January 2002 rating as 2811.^[4] The top 100 list for January 2002 gives 2809.^[5] The discrepancy appears to be due to a delay in including the rating change of +2 from Kramnik's four draws with Garry Kasparov in the Botvinnik Memorial Match in December 2001 in the top 100 lists, where it only appears in October 2002.

References[edit]

^ "All time Top 100 by Highest ELO Rating". Chess-db.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
^ "Records". 2700chess.com. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
^ "FIDE Rating Regulations". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
^ "Profile Info – Kramnik, Vladimir". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
^ "Top 100 Players January 2002 - Archive". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.

External links[edit]

A list of chess players by peak FIDE rating on 2700chess.com

[4] FIDE considers a player active if they played a rated game within the past 12 months.^[3]

[7] The chart on Kramnik's FIDE profile gives his January 2002 rating as 2811.^[4] The top 100 list for January 2002 gives 2809.^[5] The discrepancy appears to be due to a delay in including the rating change of +2 from Kramnik's four draws with Garry Kasparov in the Botvinnik Memorial Match in December 2001 in the top 100 lists, where it only appears in October 2002.

[1] "All time Top 100 by Highest ELO Rating". Chess-db.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2021-01-25.

[2] "Records". 2700chess.com. Retrieved 2021-01-25.

[3] "FIDE Rating Regulations". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.

[5] "Profile Info – Kramnik, Vladimir". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.

[6] "Top 100 Players January 2002 - Archive". FIDE. Retrieved August 5, 2021.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[3]

[4]

[5]

List[edit]

2800+[edit]

2775–2799[edit]

2750–2774[edit]

2725–2749[edit]

2700–2724[edit]