A Unique Series of Articles Begins – Every Day Until New Year’s Eve Exclusively on ChessDB.cz!

Dear readers, esteemed chess players, and all other enthusiasts,

Allow me to introduce a new project, of which I am the sole author, and which will fill the pages of this unique chess website from tomorrow until the end of 2025.

In brief – it is a ranking and presentation of the 100 greatest chess players in the world from 1850 to the present. Each day, an article about one player will be published. We will start tomorrow with number 100 and gradually reach the greatest chess player in history, whom we will reveal on New Year’s Eve.

I compiled the ranking based on many hours of study and research. Despite this, it is, of course, my subjective view, and I do not claim that what I will present is the only possible truth. Ranking 100 players meaningfully over a 175-year history of international chess is a complex and not at all simple task.

The purpose of this article is to explain how the ranking was created and to answer some questions that I can imagine my readers might have.

For example:

Why from 1850?

Chess was, of course, played before this date, but not at an international level. There were no international tournaments or professional chess players; masters of that time mostly played matches among themselves and rarely were they masters from different countries. The first major international tournament for the world’s best players – I call these tournaments super-tournaments – took place in 1851 in London.

This is also why you won’t see names like Howard Staunton in the ranking. Staunton was probably the best player in the world before 1850, won several matches, and it was he who organized the London tournament in 1851. However, he was eliminated by the eventual winner Anderssen, which more or less marked the end of his chess career. After 1850, he no longer belonged to the best, although he was significant before that.

It’s clear that today’s players are at a higher level than, say, in the 19th century. Does a ranking even make sense?

I do not evaluate pure chess strength; that would indeed make no sense. I evaluate what players achieved in their time compared to their contemporaries. If someone was a hegemon in the 19th century, it is as valuable to me as someone being a hegemon in the current century. Then I just examine who was better in their time.

Is it even possible to compare different eras?

I acknowledge that it is difficult and largely subjective. For example, I cannot deduct points from Paul Morphy for not being a world champion when no such title existed in his time. I can’t blame Wilhelm Steinitz for winning only five super-tournaments while Magnus Carlsen has won over 40, when the number of such tournaments per year today is several times higher than in Steinitz’s time. I can’t blame Robert Fischer for having an Elo below 2800 in the seventies when even with his Elo, he had a 125-point lead over the second in the ranking.

The idea is to evaluate a player’s achievements in their time concerning the achievements of their contemporaries and then compare them with the achievements of another player in another time concerning their contemporaries. Don’t be surprised if someone with five super-tournament wins ranks higher than someone with twenty. The same applies to Elo (which, by the way, started only in 1971; before that, no similar rating existed).

On the other hand, a very objective way of evaluation is a ranking that reflects a player’s position in world chess in their time. Since 1971, I use rankings based on FIDE Elo, and before 1971, I use historical calculated rankings on the Chessmetrics site, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in chess history.

What is included in a player’s evaluation?

After 1886 – how they fared in the fight for the world championship title.

Ranking – both the highest position and consistency are evaluated

After 1971 – highest FIDE Elo Rating

Number of victories in super-tournaments

For older players – how they fared in matches with other masters

Since 1927 – successes in chess Olympiads

Various other factors (This includes, for example, the fact that Fischer won two candidates’ matches 6:0, or that he had a 125 Elo point lead over the second in the ranking. Fischer’s weakness will certainly be longevity, while his strength will be absolute dominance in a short time span – both play a role in the ranking.)

What is not included: any factors related to playing style, such as someone playing “more interesting chess.” I think this is too subjective and has nothing to do with results. Likewise, a player’s personality and character are not subjects of evaluation.

Please note that this is only a ranking in classical chess. I consider bullet, blitz, rapid, and classical chess to be different disciplines. Therefore, this series of articles evaluates only classical chess. The opposite approach would be complicated, among other things, because shorter time controls were not taken seriously until this century, and no championships were held in them. Current players would thus have a significant advantage.

Sources

To avoid listing sources for each article separately, I will list them here.

Information about players, their lives, and careers was sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org. The same goes for information regarding individual matches and world championship cycles or chess Olympiads.

All old FIDE Elo lists (top hundred players) were found here: https://2700chess.com/fide-top100-history.

Historical rankings calculated retrospectively can be found on the absolutely amazing site http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/.

Super-tournaments are the most challenging category. A rich but not entirely complete list of super-tournaments since 1850 (continuously updated) can be found here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strong_chess_tournaments

Besides that, most super-tournaments have their own page listing winners and other information, one example being Tata Steel Masters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Steel_Chess_Tournament

Some older tournaments I searched for and found most games to replay on the site https://www.chessgames.com.

I am glad you are joining me on this journey and hope you will remain loyal readers until the December finale!