Highest FIDE ratings

These are the players with the highest FIDE rating records. Still, calling this the list of the best players ever would be inappropriate for several reasons, such as:

• The first FIDE rating list was published in January 1971, so players who peaked before this are mostly missing.
• The number of players with a high rating has grown rapidly. For example, the number of players rated 2600 or more grew in 30 years 1975-2005 from 18 to 135. Of course the level of play has increased as well, but it's hard to assess reliably whether the ratings and the playing level have increased at the same pace. Still, it's worth noticing that noone in the top 100 has peaked during the years 1981-1989.
• Only the published ratings have been considered even though many players probably have reached their highest rating between two lists. The increased frequency of publication (2 lists per year since 1978, 3 lists in 2000, 4 lists 2001-2008, 5 lists in 2009 and 6 lists from 2010 on) has increased the chance of getting the peak rating published.
• It's also debatable whether the highest rating reached is a good indicator of the playing strength in the first place.
• FIDE rating lists haven't always been well known for their lack of errors.
• Some of the players may not have reached their peak rating by fully honest means. Out of the players who have reached 2600, suspicions have been expressed at least against Vladimir Afromeev, Alexandru Crişan, Georgij Pilavov and all the Myanmarians.

The columns:

• rank
• name on the FIDE rating list: The part after the first comma has been moved in front of the name.
• federations: The federation at the record time is in boldface. Between two federations there is the year of transfer. ✝ stands for death.
• highest published FIDE rating reached by the player
• the FIDE rating list (year.month) where the highest rating was first published
• age when the highest rating was first published
• age of reaching the FIDE master title
• age of reaching the international master title
• age of reaching the grandmaster title: Since the ages have mostly been calculated from the rating list dates (instead of the FIDE congress dates), some of the ages are one year off.
• full name: Player's full name in his/her native language followed by the name in the primary language of the federations player has represented. The names are prepended by the ISO 639-1 code of the language. If the name isn't written in the Latin alphabet, it's followed in parenthesis by the transliteration or romanization of the name according to an ISO standard.

The list is unofficial and at least the full names are bound to include errors. Should you happen to notice one, do let me know.

Juha Kivijärvi