A total of seven chess players have been the chess world number one on the official FIDE rating list since it was first published in July 1971.

The first world number one, in July 1971, was Bobby Fischer. In January 1976 Anatoly Karpov became the highest-rated player on the FIDE list, as FIDE had dropped Fischer (whose rating was higher than Karpov's) from the list due to inactivity. In January 1984, Garry Kasparov became the third world number one. He would dominate for 21 years and 3 months from 1984 until his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, with three brief interruptions: Anatoly Karpov briefly held the world number one ranking again in July 1985, as well as during 1994 when FIDE excluded Kasparov from the list; and the fourth world number one, Vladimir Kramnik, briefly held the ranking in January 1996. In January 1990, Kasparov surpassed Fischer's peak of 2785 and became the first player ever to achieve a 2800 rating. In July 1999, he reached his peak rating, 2851. This was the highest FIDE rating in history until January 2013, when it was surpassed by Magnus Carlsen.

On Kasparov's retirement, the world number one ranking passed to Veselin Topalov, since Kasparov was removed from the rating list in April 2006 due to inactivity. In April 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the sixth player to top the rankings.FIDE January 2007 Rating List: Top 100, The Week In Chess Kramnik briefly returned to the number one ranking in January 2008, but was again joint number one by rating, being placed first in the list due to having played more games in the rating period in question. For most of the period April 2007 to November 2009, the top ranking was held by either Anand or Topalov. The seventh and current world number one is Magnus Carlsen, who first achieved this ranking in the January 2010 list, and has been world number one since July 2011 after having lost and reclaimed the position from Anand during 2010 and 2011.

Publication details

There were unofficial lists in 1964, 1969, 1970 and January 1971, as the Elo rating system was first introduced.

From 1971 to 1980, there was one main rating list published each year (for a total of 10), initially published in July from 1971 to 1973, then once in May (1974), before switching to annual publication in January from 1975 to 1980 (in this period, some supplements and amendments were also published).

From 1981 to July 2000, two lists per year were published, in January and July (for a total of 39 lists). In July 2000, the publication schedule was increased to four times a year (January, April, July, October) operating from July 2000 to July 2009 (for a total of 36 lists). In July 2009, the publication schedule was increased again, to six times a year (January, March, May, July, September, November) operating from July 2009 to July 2012 (for a total of 18 lists). In July 2012 the publication schedule was increased again to the current monthly schedule.

Publication of the rating lists in the 1970s and 1980s was in Chess Informant and other chess publications. The number of games played by individuals during the rating period was added to the lists from July 1985 onwards. Player ID numbers were used from January 1990. From January 1999, the practice of rounding to the nearest five Elo points was discontinued, and ratings were then rounded to the nearest Elo point for publication. From July 2000 onwards, the ratings are available from the FIDE website.

In January 2010 former World Champion Boris Spassky criticized the current emphasis on ratings rather than World Champions. Although Spassky was World Champion during the inception of the FIDE rankings in 1971, he never became the number-one rated player in the world; since July 1971 he, Vladimir Kramnik, Ding Liren, and Gukesh Dommaraju (the current Champion) are the only undisputed World Champions to never become ranked world number one during their tenure as champions (Kramnik has been ranked number one, but never while he was champion. Spassky and Ding have their peak ranking as World No. 2; Gukesh as World No. 3.)

List of world number ones Top players (list) The following is a list of the players ranked number one on the FIDE rating system from the first official list in July 1971 to the present day, along with their ratings during the periods in question. A rating denoted with bold text followed by an asterisk (*) is a career high rating.

Year January February March April May June July August September October November December 1971 (before official FIDE ratings) Fischer (2760) 1972 Fischer (2785*) 1973 Fischer (2780) 1974 Fischer (2780) 1975 Fischer (2780) 1976 Karpov (2695) 1977 Karpov (2690) 1978 Karpov (2725) 1979 Karpov (2705) 1980 Karpov (2725) 1981 Karpov (2690) (2700) 1982 Karpov (2720) (2700) 1983 Karpov (2710) 1984 Kasparov (2710) (2715) 1985 Kasparov (2715) Karpov (2720) 1986 Kasparov (2720) (2740) 1987 Kasparov (2735) (2740) 1988 Kasparov (2750) (2760) 1989 Kasparov (2775) 1990 Kasparov (2800) 1991 Kasparov (2800) (2770) 1992 Kasparov (2780) (2790) 1993 Kasparov (2805) (2815) 1994 Karpov (2740) Kasparov was excluded from FIDE ratings during 1994: Karpov (2780*) 1995 Kasparov (2805) (2795) 1996 Kramnik (2775) Kasparov (2785) 1997 Kasparov (2795) (2820) 1998 Kasparov (2825) (2815) 1999 Kasparov (2812) (2851*) 2000 Kasparov (2851*) (2849) 2001 Kasparov (2849) (2827) (2838) 2002 Kasparov (2838) (2836) 2003 Kasparov (2847) (2830) 2004 Kasparov (2831) (2817) (2813) 2005 Kasparov (2804) (2812) 2006 Kasparov (2812) Topalov (2804) (2813) 2007 Topalov (2783) Anand (2786) (2792) (2801) 2008 Kramnik (2799) Anand (2803) (2798) Topalov (2791) 2009 Topalov (2796) (2812) (2813) (2810) 2010 Carlsen (2810) (2813) (2826) Anand (2804) 2011 Carlsen (2814) Anand (2817*) Carlsen (2821) (2823) (2826) 2012 Carlsen (2835) (2837) (2843) (2848) 2013 Carlsen (2861) (2872) (2868) (2864) (2862) (2870) (2872) 2014 Carlsen (2872) (2881) (2882*) (2881) (2877) (2870) (2863) (2862) 2015 Carlsen (2862) (2865) (2863) (2876) (2853) (2850) (2834) 2016 Carlsen (2844) (2851) (2855) (2857) (2853) (2840) 2017 Carlsen (2840) (2838) (2832) (2822) (2827) (2826) (2837) 2018 Carlsen (2834) (2843) (2842) (2839) (2835) 2019 Carlsen (2835) (2845) (2861) (2875) (2872) (2882*) (2876) (2870) (2872) 2020 Carlsen (2872) (2862) (2863) (2862) 2021 Carlsen (2862) (2847) (2855) (2856) 2022 Carlsen (2865) (2864) (2861) (2856) (2859) 2023 Carlsen (2859) (2852) (2853) (2835) (2839) (2829) (2830) 2024 Carlsen (2830) (2832) (2831) 2025 Carlsen (2831) (2833) (2837) (2839) (2840) 2026 Carlsen (2840) (2841) (2823) Year January February March April May June July August September October November December

Timeline of world number ones

Player statistics Seven players have held the world number one ranking over a period of , encompassing rating lists. These seven players include six undisputed world chess champions, with Topalov being the only player to achieve the number one ranking without becoming undisputed world champion, though he was FIDE world champion from 2005 to 2006, and is still an active player. Spassky, Kramnik, Ding, and Gukesh are the only world champions in the period in question to never have been world number one while being champion. (Of these, Kramnik has been world number one, but only when he was not champion; Spassky, Ding, and Gukesh were never world number one.)

Fischer was top of the lists successively five times over a period of 4.5 years, though he is considered to have already become the number one player in the world before the official list started, as he topped the unofficial list in 1970. Karpov topped the list 14 times, successively 11 times over a period of 8 years, once for 6 months, and twice for a year while Kasparov was excluded. Kasparov was world number one on the official list 52 times a period of 21 years and 3 months, and 31 times successively over nearly a decade from July 1996 to January 2006; he was number one 3 times successively over 1.5 years, then 16 times successively over 8 years, then twice successively for one year, and then finally 31 times over 9 years and 9 months. Kramnik was world number one 2 times (for 6 and 3 months), for a total of 9 months. Topalov was world number one successively 4 and 6 times (a total of 10 times), for 12 months and 15 months respectively (for a total of 27 months). Anand was world number one successively 2 and 3 times (a total of 5 times), for 6 months and 9 months respectively (for a total of 15 months). Carlsen has been world number one 194 times, including a record 182 consecutive times since July 2011.

+ Time at FIDE number one and youngest age at FIDE number one Player Months at No. 1 Peak rating Age at first time No. 1 Date at first time No. 1 Rating at first time No. 1 25528512710 19628822810 11427802695 5427852760 2728162804 2428172786 928172775

Women List of world female number ones The following is a list of the players ranked number one female on the FIDE rating system from the first official list in July 1971 to the present day, along with their ratings during the periods in question. A rating denoted with bold text followed by an asterisk (*) is a career high rating.

Year January February March April May June July August September October November December 1971 (before official FIDE ratings) Nona Gaprindashvili (2390) 1972 Nona Gaprindashvili (2450) 1973 Nona Gaprindashvili (2420) 1974 Nona Gaprindashvili (2405) 1975 Nona Gaprindashvili (2410) 1976 Nona Gaprindashvili (2440) 1977 Nona Gaprindashvili (2445) 1978 Nona Gaprindashvili (2425) 1979 Nona Gaprindashvili (2405) 1980 Maia Chiburdanidze (2400) 1981 Maia Chiburdanidze (2425) (2405) 1982 Maia Chiburdanidze (2390) (2385) 1983 Pia Cramling (2355) Maia Chiburdanidze (2380) 1984 Pia Cramling (2405) Susan Polgar (2405) 1985 Susan Polgar (2430) Maia Chiburdanidze (2450) 1986 Maia Chiburdanidze (2455) Susan Polgar (2455) 1987 Maia Chiburdanidze (2530) (2550) 1988 Maia Chiburdanidze (2560*) (2555) 1989 Judit Polgár (2555) 1990 Judit Polgár (2550) (2540) 1991 Judit Polgár (2540) (2550) 1992 Judit Polgár (2550) (2575) 1993 Judit Polgár (2595) (2635) 1994 Judit Polgár (2630) 1995 Judit Polgár (2630) (2635) 1996 Judit Polgár (2675) (2665) 1997 Judit Polgár (2645) (2670) 1998 Judit Polgár (2675) (2665) 1999 Judit Polgár (2677) (2671) 2000 Judit Polgár (2658) (2656) 2001 Judit Polgár (2676) (2678) (2686) 2002 Judit Polgár (2677) (2681) (2685) 2003 Judit Polgár (2700) (2715) (2718) (2722) 2004 Judit Polgár (2728) 2005 Susan Polgar (2577*) Judit Polgár (2732) Judit Polgár (2735*) 2006 Judit Polgár (2711) (2710) 2007 Judit Polgár (2727) (2707) (2708) 2008 Judit Polgár (2707) (2709) (2711) 2009 Judit Polgár (2693) (2687) (2680) 2010 Judit Polgár (2682) (2686) 2011 Judit Polgár (2686) (2699) (2701) (2710) 2012 Judit Polgár (2710) (2709) (2698) (2705) 2013 Judit Polgár (2696) (2689) (2693) 2014 Judit Polgár (2693) (2685) (2676) (2675) 2015 Judit Polgár (2675) Hou Yifan (2686*) (2676) JuditPolgar (2675) Hou Yifan (2671) (2683) 2016 Hou Yifan (2673) (2667) (2663) (2658) (2649) (2635) (2651) 2017 Hou Yifan (2651) (2649) (2652) (2666) (2652) (2670) (2678) (2680) 2018 Hou Yifan (2680) (2654) (2657) (2658) (2662) 2019 Hou Yifan (2662) (2659) (2664) 2020 Hou Yifan (2664) (2658) 2021 Hou Yifan (2658) 2022 Hou Yifan (2658) (2650) (2638) 2023 Hou Yifan (2638) (2628) (2632) 2024 Hou Yifan (2632) (2633) 2025 Hou Yifan (2633) (2609) (2617) (2620) (2613) 2026 Hou Yifan (2613) (2596) Year January February March April May June July August September October November December

Timeline

Women statistics + Time at FIDE number one and youngest age at FIDE number one Player Months at No. 1 Peak rating Age at first time No. 1 Date at first time No. 1 Rating at first time No. 1 31227352555 26862686 10224952390 7825602400 2125772405 1225502355

List of junior world number ones