Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 21:46:00 01/01/03
I went through and rated all the published games in Chess Informant from the
first volume in 1966 through to the latest volume #85, published Dec 1,2002
using the Fritz 7 ELO rater. Understand , that the games published in Chess
Informant are not all the games played in that period. I am not certain if the
Fritz 7 calculation requires a certain number of games for a player to be rated.
The games also include some rapid chess games.
I found the results interesting (although clearly unscientific). One could
argue that these players make up the large majority of the best 150 players over
the last 36 years.
1 Fischer , R 2839
2 Kasparov , G 2838
3 Botvinnik , M 2822
4 Kramnik , V 2817
5 Karpov , An 2804
6 Anand , V 2803
7 Adams , M 2778
8 Dolmatov , S 2775
9 Ivanchuk , V 2767
10 Shirov , A 2759
11 Motylev , A 2750
12 Sakaev , K 2746
13 Gelfand , B 2745
14 Adams , Mi 2745
15 Almasi , Z 2744
16 Fedorov , A 2744
17 Petrosian , T 2743
18 Shariyazdanov , A 2743
19 Sokolov , I 2739
20 Psakhis , L 2738
21 Nisipeanu , L._D 2738
22 Leko , P 2737
23 Tal , M 2736
24 Bareev , E 2735
25 Gurevich , M 2734
26 Sturua , Z 2732
27 Kamsky , G 2730
28 Vescovi , G 2730
29 Khalifman , A 2729
30 Chernin , A 2729
31 Salov , Va 2728
32 Grischuk , A 2727
33 Dreev , A 2726
34 Polugaevsky , L 2725
35 Lautier , J 2724
36 Akopian , V 2724
37 Jussupow , A 2723
38 Spassky , B 2723
39 Milos , G 2723
40 Timoshenko , G 2723
41 Rustemov , A 2723
42 Svidler , P 2722
43 Krasenkow , M 2722
44 Sokolov , An 2722
45 Ilincic , Z 2722
46 Sokolov , A 2722
47 Morozevich , A 2721
48 Acs , P 2721
49 Keres , P 2720
50 Sveshnikov , E 2719
51 Stein , L 2716
52 Balashov , Y 2715
53 Beliavsky , A 2713
54 Smyslov , V 2713
55 Tukmakov , V 2711
56 Georgiev , Ki 2711
57 Yudasin , L 2711
58 Epishin , V 2711
59 Rublevsky , S 2711
60 Vladimirov , E 2711
61 Lputian , S 2710
62 Vyzmanavin , A 2710
63 Korchnoi , V 2709
64 Makarichev , S 2709
65 Bologan , V 2708
66 Topalov , V 2707
67 Agzamov , G 2707
68 Zvjaginsev , V 2706
69 Larsen , B 2704
70 Razuvaev , Y 2704
71 Dautov , R 2704
72 Ivanov , Se 2702
73 Geller , E 2701
74 Ehlvest , J 2701
75 Zakharevich , I 2701
76 Gulko , B 2700
77 Sherbakov , R 2700
78 Andrianov , N 2700
79 Dorfman , J 2699
80 Sulskis , S 2699
81 Naumkin , I 2698
82 Portisch , L 2697
83 Polgar , Ju 2697
84 Timman , J 2696
85 Mikhalchishin , A 2695
86 Matanovic , A 2695
87 Giorgadze , G 2694
88 Dvoretzky , M 2694
89 Huebner , R 2692
90 Speelman , J 2692
91 Tiviakov , S 2692
92 Azmaiparashvili 2692
93 Mecking , H 2691
94 Alterman , B 2691
95 Eingorn , V 2691
96 Short , N 2689
97 Nunn , J 2689
98 Gavrikov , Vi 2689
99 Smagin , S 2689
100 Nisipeanu , L.-D 2689
101 Bronstein , D 2688
102 Yermolinsky , A 2688
103 Movsesian , S 2688
104 Miles , A 2687
105 Mozetic , D 2687
106 Glek , I 2686
107 Ye , Rongguang 2686
108 Vaganian , R 2685
109 Hort , V 2684
110 Ribli , Z 2684
111 Kholmov , R 2683
112 Kantsler , B 2683
113 Tseshkovsky , V 2682
114 Gipslis , A 2682
115 Dokhoian , Y 2682
116 Ponomariov , R 2682
117 Fishbein , A 2682
118 Tregubov , P 2681
119 Ljubojevic , Lj 2680
120 Taimanov , M 2679
121 Aseev , K 2679
122 Adorjan , A 2677
123 Sutovsky , E 2677
124 Gurevich , I 2677
125 Chuchelov , V 2677
126 Piket , Je 2676
127 Vasiukov , E 2676
128 Onischuk , Al 2676
129 Illescas Cordoba 2675
130 Benjamin , Joel 2675
131 Magerramov , E 2675
132 Iordachescu , V 2675
133 Kuzmin , A 2674
134 Hansen , L.Bo 2673
135 Henley , R 2673
136 Milov , V 2672
137 Kobalija , M 2672
138 Giorgadze , T 2671
139 Tseitlin , Mi 2671
140 Romanishin , O 2670
141 Gufeld , E 2670
142 Marjanovic , Sl 2670
143 Atalik , S 2670
144 Shipov , S 2670
145 Tunik , G 2670
146 Savon , V 2669
147 Krogius , N 2668
148 Spasov , V 2668
149 Baklan , V 2668
150 Dzindzichashvili 2667
Here is the help file included in Fritz 7 that explains this in a little more
detail. I used as a gauge, Kasparov's rating of 2838.
{Fritz Help File}
The Elo start list
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unix inventor and computer chess pioneer, Ken Thompson, has developed an
algorithm which allows one to create an Elo rating list out of an arbitrary set
of games. Any database of games can be treated as a gigantic tournament. Each
player gets the same initial rating (e.g., 2400). After evaluating the results
of all games in the database, each player gets a new rating. Using these new
values, the games of the database are rated again. This is done over and over
again, until the ratings of all players stabilize and the values remain
constant.
The Elo management in our chess program was implemented mainly in order to
evaluate engine tournaments. But it is very interesting to use it on human
results as well. It can also be quite exciting to create Elo lists for
historical game data. For the system to work properly, it is absolutely critical
that the players’ names are completely unified. We recommend using the large
high-quality databases from ChessBase (e.g., MegaDatabase) for the creation of
historical Elo lists. Most other databases contain player names with different
spellings and other inaccuracies. In addition, databases which do not contain
complete tournaments tend to distort the ratings.
For engine ratings, a good Elo list should be based on at least 300 to 500
games. Implausible values in the start list are not a big problem, because after
a few engine tournaments, the programs will approach their real ratings
(underrated engines will shoot up, grossly overrated ones will lose point very
quickly).
This is how to generate an Elo list
First, select all the games in a database list that should be used for
calculation. If you want to use the whole database, press Ctrl-A to select them
all.
Right-click the selected games, then click Create Elo start list in the menu
that appears.
The program prompts you for a file name. If you use an existing Elo list,
its contents will be overwritten.
If there are not enough games per player in the database, the program
informs you, and does not calculate any ratings.
The Thompson algorithm calculates relative playing strengths. It assumes that
the average rating of all the players in a rating list is 2400. This will
normally not be the case. To get correct practical ratings, it is necessary to
rescale or gauge the list by adding or subtracting a certain percentage from
each player. The best way to do this is to take a very stable player with a
known rating (our favourite is John Nunn, who has been 2600 for years), and add
or subtract an offset to make the rating equal his real rating. The program will
then adjust the ratings of all other players accordingly. After the program has
finished with an Elo calculation, you need to gauge the list. Click Gauge, then
enter a correction offset
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Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
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