Sorted by Elo rating
Here is the latest IGM rating or grading list which I prepared for presentation at the FIDE meeting in October at Lugano. The ratings given are to be construed as averages over the indicated 28 month period. Unfortunately I cannot supply what would be 'current' ratings as so far I have been unable to obtain tournament and match reports in chronological order and within a reasonable time after the respective events. FIDE had directed its membership to send me reports; however, the response to the directive was negligible; absolutely zero from behind the iron curtain.
A single important factor which casts a doubt over the validity of a ranking list such as this, regardless of what type of grading system is used, is the prevalance of the 'grand master draw'. Among the top ranked players only Fischer, Botvinnik and Larsen had more games played to a decition than draws. Even such fighting players as Korchnoy, Tal and Portisch played more than 50% of their games to draws. And how can any system truly evaluate Spassky's performance when he played 91 draws in 129 grand master games? One could paraphrase an oft quoted saying here: "the fault is not our system but in our masters" - and the way they play. At that, a grading system, even at the grand master level, could serve a useful purpose. Grand masters may pretend to be above such things as ratings systems but the truth is that they are as vain about their ratings as the duffers. If they understood that draws could adversely affect their ratings we might see fewer perfunctory draws in grand master play.
The performances of the International Grand Masters over the period January 1966 through April 1968. Included on the list are all the F.I.D.E. grand masters as of October 22, 1967 and a few international masters who, by statistical ciriteria, have performed at the grand master level. The ratings of the players represent their average performances over the indicated period. The figures are rounded to the nearest ten since greater precition cannot be claimed.
/ Prof. Arpad E. Elo, CHESS, November 1968 /
pos Player_ID Name Title Fed Rtng +/- gms Birthday Sex Flag
1 Fischer, Robert James USA 2710
2 Botvinnik, Mikhail URS 2690
3 Korchnoi, Viktor URS 2660
3= Spassky, Boris V. URS 2660
5 Larsen, Bent DEN 2650
5= Petrosian, Tigran URS 2650
5= Tal, Mikhail N. URS 2650
8 Geller, Efim P. URS 2630
8= Smyslov, Vassily URS 2630
10 Unzicker, Wolfgang GER 2610
10= Portisch, Lajos HUN 2610
10= Polugaevsky, Lev URS 2610
10= Stein, Leonid URS 2610
14 Keres, Paul URS 2600
14= Kholmov, Ratmir D. URS 2600
14= Lutikov, Anatoly S. URS 2600
17 Najdorf, Miguel ARG 2590
17= Olafsson, Fridrik ISL 2590
17= Boleslavsky, Isaak URS 2590
17= Gligoric, Svetozar YUG 2590
21 Gipslis, Aivars URS 2580
21= Krogius, Nikolai V. URS 2580
21= Taimanov, Mark E. URS 2580
21= Benko, Pal C. USA 2580
21= Reshevsky, Samuel H. USA 2580
26 Hort, Vlastimil CSR 2570
26= Darga, Klaus GER 2570
26= Furman, Semyen A. URS 2570
26= Lein, Anatoly URS 2570
30 Antoshin, Vladimir S. URS 2560
30= Gufeld, Eduard URS 2560
30= Zaitsev, Alexander URS 2560
30= Evans, Larry M. USA 2560
30= Ivkov, Borislav YUG 2560
30= Matulovic, Milan YUG 2560
36 Mecking, Henrique BRA 2550
36= Osnos, Viatcheslav URS 2550
36= Savon, Vladimir A. URS 2550
36= Vasiukov, Evgeni URS 2550
36= Matanovic, Aleksandar YUG 2550
41 Panno, Oscar ARG 2540
41= Bobotsov, Milko G. BUL 2540
41= Averbakh, Yuri L. URS 2540
41= Shamkovich, Leonid URS 2540
41= Parma, Bruno YUG 2540
46 Uhlmann, Wolfgang GDR 2530
46= Bilek, Istvan HUN 2530
46= Donner, Jan-Hein NED 2530
46= Gheorghiu, Florin ROM 2530
46= Suetin, Alexey S. URS 2530
46= Ciric, Dragoljub M. YUG 2530
52 Kavalek, Lubomir CSR 2520
52= Pomar Salamanca, Arturo ESP 2520
52= Szabo, Laszlo HUN 2520
52= Byrne, Robert E. USA 2520
56 Pilnik, Herman ARG 2510
56= Filip, Miroslav CSR 2510
56= Schmid, Lothar GER 2510
56= Kotov, Alexander URS 2510
56= Liberzon, Vladimir M. URS 2510
56= Simagin, Vladimir URS 2510
62 Eliskases, Erich ARG 2500
62= Barcza, Gedeon HUN 2500
62= Trifunovic, Petar YUG 2500
65 Janosevic, Dragoljub YUG 2490
66 Padevsky, Nikola BUL 2480
66= Tringov, Georgi P. BUL 2480
66= Barczay, Laszlo HUN 2480
69 Yanofsky, Daniel A. CAN 2470
69= Lengyel, Levente HUN 2470
71 O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic BEL 2430
72 Pietzsch, Wolfgang GDR 2420
72= Damjanovic, Mato YUG 2420