All-Time Greatest
The highest-rated chess players in history, ranked by peak FIDE Elo rating. Covering world champions, challengers, and the elite of competitive chess.
Top 20 all time
| # | Player | Country | Peak | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus CarlsenWC | 🇳🇴🇷🇼🇦🇾 | 2882 | 2014 |
| 2 | Garry KasparovWC | 🇷🇺🇸🇸🇮🇦 | 2851 | 1999 |
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 🇺🇸🇦 | 2844 | 2014 |
| 4 | Levon Aronian | 🇺🇸🇦 | 2830 | 2014 |
| 5 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 🇫🇷🇦🇳🇨🇪 | 2819 | 2016 |
| 6 | Veselin TopalovWC | 🇧🇺🇱🇬🇦🇷🇮🇦 | 2816 | 2015 |
| 7 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 🇦🇿🇪🇷🇧🇦🇮🇯🇦🇳 | 2820 | 2018 |
| 8 | Hikaru Nakamura | 🇺🇸🇦 | 2816 | 2015 |
| 9 | Viswanathan AnandWC | 🇮🇳🇩🇮🇦 | 2817 | 2011 |
| 10 | Ding LirenWC | 🇨🇭🇮🇳🇦 | 2816 | 2023 |
| 11 | Alireza Firouzja | 🇫🇷🇦🇳🇨🇪 | 2804 | 2022 |
| 12 | Wesley So | 🇺🇸🇦 | 2822 | 2017 |
| 13 | Vladimir KramnikWC | 🇷🇺🇸🇸🇮🇦 | 2817 | 2016 |
| 14 | Teimour Radjabov | 🇦🇿🇪🇷🇧🇦🇮🇯🇦🇳 | 2793 | 2012 |
| 15 | Alexander Grischuk | 🇷🇺🇸🇸🇮🇦 | 2810 | 2014 |
| 16 | Anish Giri | 🇳🇪🇹🇭🇪🇷🇱🇦🇳🇩🇸 | 2798 | 2018 |
| 17 | Bobby FischerWC | 🇺🇸🇦 | 2785 | 1972 |
| 18 | Dommaraju GukeshWC | 🇮🇳🇩🇮🇦 | 2794 | 2024 |
| 19 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 🇷🇺🇸🇸🇮🇦 | 2795 | 2023 |
| 20 | Sergey Karjakin | 🇷🇺🇸🇸🇮🇦 | 2788 | 2011 |
About these rankings
Rankings are based on peak FIDE standard (classical) ratings. FIDE has published official ratings since 1970, so pre-1970 players like Fischer are rated based on retroactive calculations.
Rating inflation means modern players tend to have higher peak ratings than historical players. Fischer's 2785 in 1972 was more dominant relative to his era than the number alone suggests.
Follow players on ChessRef
Many all-time greats are active on Chess.com. Track their online ratings, opening choices, and recent games through ChessRef player profiles.