Sorted by rating change
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
4 Spassky, Boris V. URS 2660
5 Larsen, Bent DEN 2650
6 Petrosian, Tigran URS 2650
7 Tal, Mikhail N. URS 2650
8 Geller, Efim P. URS 2630
9 Smyslov, Vassily URS 2630
10 Unzicker, Wolfgang GER 2610
11 Portisch, Lajos HUN 2610
12 Polugaevsky, Lev URS 2610
13 Stein, Leonid URS 2610
14 Keres, Paul URS 2600
15 Kholmov, Ratmir D. URS 2600
16 Lutikov, Anatoly S. URS 2600
17 Najdorf, Miguel ARG 2590
18 Olafsson, Fridrik ISL 2590
19 Boleslavsky, Isaak URS 2590
20 Gligoric, Svetozar YUG 2590
21 Gipslis, Aivars URS 2580
22 Krogius, Nikolai V. URS 2580
23 Taimanov, Mark E. URS 2580
24 Benko, Pal C. USA 2580
25 Reshevsky, Samuel H. USA 2580
26 Hort, Vlastimil CSR 2570
27 Darga, Klaus GER 2570
28 Furman, Semyen A. URS 2570
29 Lein, Anatoly URS 2570
30 Antoshin, Vladimir S. URS 2560
31 Gufeld, Eduard URS 2560
32 Zaitsev, Alexander URS 2560
33 Evans, Larry M. USA 2560
34 Ivkov, Borislav YUG 2560
35 Matulovic, Milan YUG 2560
36 Mecking, Henrique BRA 2550
37 Osnos, Viatcheslav URS 2550
38 Savon, Vladimir A. URS 2550
39 Vasiukov, Evgeni URS 2550
40 Matanovic, Aleksandar YUG 2550
41 Panno, Oscar ARG 2540
42 Bobotsov, Milko G. BUL 2540
43 Averbakh, Yuri L. URS 2540
44 Shamkovich, Leonid URS 2540
45 Parma, Bruno YUG 2540
46 Uhlmann, Wolfgang GDR 2530
47 Bilek, Istvan HUN 2530
48 Donner, Jan-Hein NED 2530
49 Gheorghiu, Florin ROM 2530
50 Suetin, Alexey S. URS 2530
51 Ciric, Dragoljub M. YUG 2530
52 Kavalek, Lubomir CSR 2520
53 Pomar Salamanca, Arturo ESP 2520
54 Szabo, Laszlo HUN 2520
55 Byrne, Robert E. USA 2520
56 Pilnik, Herman ARG 2510
57 Filip, Miroslav CSR 2510
58 Schmid, Lothar GER 2510
59 Kotov, Alexander URS 2510
60 Liberzon, Vladimir M. URS 2510
61 Simagin, Vladimir URS 2510
62 Eliskases, Erich ARG 2500
63 Barcza, Gedeon HUN 2500
64 Trifunovic, Petar YUG 2500
65 Janosevic, Dragoljub YUG 2490
66 Padevsky, Nikola BUL 2480
67 Tringov, Georgi P. BUL 2480
68 Barczay, Laszlo HUN 2480
69 Yanofsky, Daniel A. CAN 2470
70 Lengyel, Levente HUN 2470
71 O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic BEL 2430
72 Pietzsch, Wolfgang GDR 2420
73 Damjanovic, Mato YUG 2420