This list of chess players is ordered by their peak FIDE rating, an implementation of the Elo rating introduced by FIDE in 1971. The cut-off value is 2700 for men (players with a rating at or above this value are colloquially known as super grandmasters) and 2500 for women.

Only six players achieved their over-2700 peak before the year 2000 and twenty-one players achieved their respective peak between 2000 and 2009 (inclusive).

Classical

+ FIDE players ordered by peak Elo rating Country Player Peak rating Achieved Birth year Death year Notes 2800+ 1 Magnus Carlsen 2882 2014-05 1990 World no. 1 (2010, 2011, 2011–), former world champion (2013–2023) 2 Garry Kasparov 2851 1999-07 1963 Former world champion (1985–2000), former world no. 1 (1984–1993, 1995–2006), first player to achieve 2800+ rating (1990) 3 Fabiano Caruana 2844 2014-10 1992 4 Levon Aronian 2830 2014-03 1982 5 Wesley So 2822 2017-02 1993 6 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2820 2018-09 1985 7 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2819 2016-08 1990 8 Viswanathan Anand 2817 2011-03 1969 Former world champion (2000–2002, 2007–2013), former world no. 1 (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011) Vladimir Kramnik 2817 2016-10 1975 Former world champion (2000–2006), former world no. 1 (1996, 2008)10 Veselin Topalov 2816 2015-07 1975 Former world champion (2005–2006), former world no. 1 (2006–2007, 2008–2009) Hikaru Nakamura 2816 2015-10 1987 Ding Liren 2816 2018-11 1992 Former world champion (2023–2024) 13 Alexander Grischuk 2810 2014-12 1983 14 Alireza Firouzja 2804 2021-12 2003 Youngest player to achieve 2800+ rating 15 Arjun Erigaisi 2801 2024-12 2003 2775–2799 16 Anish Giri 2798 2015-10 1994 17 Ian Nepomniachtchi 2795 2023-03 1990 18 Gukesh Dommaraju 2794 2024-10 2006 World Chess Champion (2024–) 19 Teimour Radjabov 2793 2012-11 1987 20 Alexander Morozevich 2788 2008-07 1977 Sergey Karjakin 2788 2011-07 1990 22 Vasyl Ivanchuk 2787 2007-10 1969 23 Bobby Fischer 2785 1972-07 1943 2008 Former world champion (1972–1975), former world no. 1 (1971–1975), first player to achieve 2700+ rating Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa 2785 2025-09 2005 25 Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2783 2024-10 2004 26 Javokhir Sindarov 2782 2026-10 2005 27 Anatoly Karpov 2780 1994-07 1951 Former world champion (1975–1985, 1993–1999), former world no. 1 (1976–1983, 1985, 1994) 28 Boris Gelfand 2777 2013-11 1968 29 Richárd Rapport 2776 2022-04 1996 Vincent Keymer 2776 2025-12 2004 2750–2774 31 Pentala Harikrishna 2770 2016-12 1986 32 Peter Svidler 2769 2013-05 1976 33 Leinier Domínguez 2768 2014-05 1983 34 Pavel Eljanov 2765 2016-03 1983 Yu Yangyi 2765 2018-09 1994 36 Ruslan Ponomariov 2764 2011-07 1983 Former world champion (2002–2004)37 Peter Leko 2763 2005-04 1979 Gata Kamsky 2763 2013-07 1974 Wang Hao 2763 2020-04 1989 Wei Yi 2763 2024-10 1999 41 Vugar Gashimov 2761 2012-01 1986 2014 Michael Adams 2761 2013-09 1971 Vladislav Artemiev 2761 2019-06 199844 Dmitry Jakovenko 2760 2009-01 1983 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2760 2021-12 1998 46 Evgeny Tomashevsky 2758 2015-09 1987 Li Chao 2758 2016-06 1989 48 Wang Yue 2756 2010-11 1987 49 Alexei Shirov 2755 2008-01 1972 50 Sergei Movsesian 2751 2009-01 1978 David Navara 2751 2015-05 1985 Nikita Vitiugov 2751 2019-11 1987 53 Radosław Wojtaszek 2750 2017-01 1987 2725–2749 54 Étienne Bacrot 2749 2013-11 1983 Aravindh Chithambaram 2749 2025-04 1999 56 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2747 2024-02 1994 57 Dmitry Andreikin 2743 2016-06 199058 Parham Maghsoodloo 2742 2023-12 2000 Hans Niemann 2742 2026-05 2003 60 Lê Quang Liêm 2741 2024-08 1991 61 Evgeny Bareev 2739 2003-10 1966 Vladimir Fedoseev 2739 2025-03 1995 63 Maxim Matlakov 2738 2017-11 1991 64 Arkadij Naiditsch 2737 2013-12 1985 Amin Tabatabaei 2737 2026-09 2001 66 Jorden van Foreest 2736 2026-04 1999 67 Judit Polgár 2735 2005-07 1976 Highest-ranked female player; first and only female player to achieve 2700+ rating, only female player to be ranked in the world's top 1068 Viktor Bologan 2734 2012-08 1971 Baadur Jobava 2734 2012-09 1983 70 Vladimir Malakhov 2732 2010-07 1980 Ernesto Inarkiev 2732 2016-09 198572 Bu Xiangzhi 2731 2019-02 1985 Samuel Shankland 2731 2019-02 1991 Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş 2731 2026-10 2011 Youngest player to achieve 2700+ rating75 Zoltán Almási 2726 2011-07 1976 Alexander Moiseenko 2726 2011-09 198077 Evgeny Alekseev 2725 2009-09 1985 Andrei Volokitin 2725 2013-03 1986 2700–2724 79 Ni Hua 2724 2009-04 1983 Francisco Vallejo Pons 2724 2011-07 1982 81 Anton Korobov 2723 2014-01 1985 Andrey Esipenko 2723 2022-03 2002 Nihal Sarin 2723 2026-04 200484 Krishnan Sasikiran 2720 2012-05 1981 Alexander Riazantsev 2720 2012-07 1985 Alexander Areshchenko 2720 2012-12 1986 Laurent Fressinet 2720 2015-06 1981 Daniil Dubov 2720 2021-12 1996 89 Awonder Liang 2719 2026-02 200390 Ivan Cheparinov 2718 2018-08 198691 Lázaro Bruzón 2717 2012-10 1982 Yuriy Kryvoruchko 2717 2015-11 1986 Alexey Sarana 2717 2024-07 2000 94 Valery Salov 2715 1995-01 1964 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2715 2015-05 1979 Former world champion (2004–2005) Kirill Alekseenko 2715 2019-11 1997 97 Loek van Wely 2714 2001-10 1972 Denis Khismatullin 2714 2014-03 198499 Vladimir Akopian 2713 2006-07 1971 Luke McShane 2713 2012-07 1984101 Nigel Short 2712 2004-04 1965 David Howell 2712 2015-08 1990 Bassem Amin 2712 2019-01 1988 Only African player to achieve 2700+ rating Jeffery Xiong 2712 2019-11 2000 Sanan Sjugirov 2712 2022-11 1993 Nodirbek Yakubboev 2712 2026-10 2002107 Alexey Dreev 2711 2011-07 1969 Gabriel Sargissian 2711 2022-09 1983109 Alexander Beliavsky 2710 1997-07 1953 Alexander Motylev 2710 2009-07 1979 Maxim Rodshtein 2710 2016-03 1989 Bogdan-Daniel Deac 2710 2022-09 2001 113 Rauf Mamedov 2709 2017-12 1988 Gawain Jones 2709 2019-06 1987 115 Zahar Efimenko 2708 2011-03 1985 Haik M. Martirosyan 2708 2023-11 2000 Samuel Sevian 2708 2026-09 2000118 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 2707 2005-10 1976 Evgeniy Najer 2707 2017-08 1977120 Ivan Sokolov 2706 2004-01 1968 Ferenc Berkes 2706 2011-09 1985 Sergei Rublevsky 2706 2013-11 1974123 Mikhail Tal 2705 1980-01 1936 1992 Former world champion (1960–1961) Vadim Milov 2705 2008-07 1972 Boris Grachev 2705 2012-03 1986 Jon Ludvig Hammer 2705 2016-02 1990127 Viktor Láznička 2704 2012-01 1989 Ray Robson 2704 2023-04 1994129 Emil Sutovsky 2703 2012-01 1977 Markus Ragger 2703 2017-02 1988 Vladislav Kovalev 2703 2019-02 1994 Ivan Šarić 2703 2019-03 1990 David Antón Guijarro 2703 2020-03 1995134 Michał Krasenkow 2702 2000-07 1963 Ilya Smirin 2702 2001-07 1968 Alexander Khalifman 2702 2001-10 1966 Former world champion (1999–2000) Zurab Azmaiparashvili 2702 2003-07 1960 Romain Edouard 2702 2014-06 1990 Igor Kovalenko 2702 2015-08 1988 140 Alexander Onischuk 2701 2010-07 1975 Adhiban Baskaran 2701 2019-04 1992142 Peter Heine Nielsen 2700 2010-07 1973 Igor Lysyj 2700 2015-01 1987

Highest-rated female players + FIDE women players ordered by peak Elo rating Country Player Peak rating Achieved Birth year Death year Notes 2700+ 1 Judit Polgár 2735 2005-07 1976 Highest-ranked female player, formerly female world no. 1 (1989–2015) 2600–2699 2 Hou Yifan 2686 2015-03 1994 Former women's world champion (2010–2012, 2013–2015, 2016–2017), youngest female grandmaster (since 2008), female world no. 1 (since 2015) 3 Koneru Humpy 2623 2009-07 1987 4 Aleksandra Goryachkina 2611 2021-08 1998 5 Anna Muzychuk 2606 2012-07 1990 6 Ju Wenjun 2604 2017-03 1991 Women's World Chess Champion (since 2018) 2500–2599 7 Tatiana Kosintseva 2581 2010-11 1986 8 Zhao Xue 2579 2013-09 1985 Zhu Jiner 2579 2025-11 2002 10 Susan Polgar 2577 2005-01 1969 Former women's world champion (1996–1999), former female world no. 1 (1984–1985, 1986) 11 Nadezhda Kosintseva 2576 2010-11 1985 12 Xie Jun 2574 2008-01 1970 Former women's world champion (1991–1996, 1999–2001) 13 Nana Dzagnidze 2573 2015-06 1987 14 Lei Tingjie 2569 2025-11 199715 Mariya Muzychuk 2563 2016-03 1992 Former women's world champion (2015–2016) Kateryna Lagno 2563 2022-10 1989 17 Alexandra Kosteniuk 2561 2018-01 1984 Former women's world champion (2008–2010) Tan Zhongyi 2561 2024-12 1991 Former women's world champion (2017–2018)19 Maia Chiburdanidze 2560 1988-01 1961 Former women's world champion (1978–1991), former female world no. 1 (1980–1982, 1983, 1985–1986, 1987–1988) Alisa Galliamova 2560 1998-07 1972 Antoaneta Stefanova 2560 2003-01 1979 Former women's world champion (2004–2006) 22 Pia Cramling 2550 2008-10 1963 Former female world no. 1 (1983, 1984)23 Zhu Chen 2548 2008-01 1976 Former women's world champion (2001–2004) Valentina Gunina 2548 2015-06 1989 25 Harika Dronavalli 2543 2016-11 1991 26 Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen 2542 2017-06 1983 27 Bibisara Assaubayeva 2538 2026-07 2004 28 Anna Zatonskih 2537 2011-05 1978 Marie Sebag 2537 2013-03 1986 30 Bella Khotenashvili 2531 2013-06 1988 31 Nino Batsiashvili 2528 2018-03 1987 32 Elina Danielian 2521 2011-07 1978 33 Nana Ioseliani 2520 1997-07 1962 34 Dinara Saduakassova 2519 2020-01 1996 35 Xu Yuhua 2517 2006-04 1976 Former women's world champion (2006–2008) 36 Polina Shuvalova 2516 2021-12 2001 37 Elisabeth Pähtz 2513 2018-09 1985 38 Wang Lei 2512 2001-10 1975 39 Hoang Thanh Trang 2511 2013-11 1980 40 Divya Deshmukh 2510 2026-04 2005 41 Natalia Pogonina 2508 2014-07 198542 Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 2507 2001-07 1974 Zhansaya Abdumalik 2507 2021-10 2000 44 Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant 2506 2009-07 1968 Wang Pin 2506 2000-10 1974 Vaishali Rameshbabu 2506 2024-08 200147 Sofia Polgar 2505 1998-07 1974 Monika Soćko 2505 2008-04 1978 Olga Girya 2505 2017-09 1991 Alina Kashlinskaya 2505 2022-06 1993 51 Lilit Mkrtchian 2503 2010-01 1982 Ruan Lufei 2503 2014-01 198753 Svetlana Matveeva 2502 2004-01 1969 Anna Ushenina 2502 2007-07 1985 Former women's world champion (2012–2013) Irina Krush 2502 2013-10 1983 56 Qin Kanying 2501 2000-07 1974 Almira Skripchenko 2501 2003-01 1976 58 Lela Javakhishvili 2500 2010-03 1984

Highest ratings by decade This section lists the top 20 active players by peak FIDE rating achieved in every decade since 1971, when FIDE started officially publishing rating lists.

1970s + Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 1970s Country Player Peak rating in 1970s Achieved 1 Bobby Fischer 2785 1972-07 2 Anatoly Karpov 2725 1978-01 3 Viktor Korchnoi 2695 1979-01 4 Boris Spassky 2690 1971-07 5 Bent Larsen 2660 1971-07 Mikhail Tal 2660 1973-07 7 Lajos Portisch 2650 1973-07 8 Tigran Petrosian 2645 1972-07 Lev Polugaevsky 2645 1972-07 10 Henrique Mecking 2635 1977-01 11 Mikhail Botvinnik 2630 1971-07 12 Lubomir Kavalek 2625 1974-05 Jan Timman 2625 1979-01 14 Vassily Smyslov 2620 1971-07 Leonid Stein 2620 1972-07 Ljubomir Ljubojević 2620 1976-01 Efim Geller 2620 1976-01 Vlastimil Hort 2620 1977-01 19 Paul Keres 2615 1971-07 Robert Hübner 2615 1974-05 Jan Smejkal 2615 1976-01

1980s + Chess players ordered by peak FIDE rating in 1980s Country Player Peak rating in 1980s Achieved 1 Garry Kasparov 2775 1989-01 2 Anatoly Karpov 2755 1989-07 3 Mikhail Tal 2705 1980-01 4 Viktor Korchnoi 2695 1980-01 5 Jan Timman 2675 1988-01 6 Nigel Short 2665 1988-07 7 Artur Yusupov 2660 1986-07 Vasyl Ivanchuk 2660 1989-07 9 Lajos Portisch 2655 1980-01 Alexander Beliavsky 2655 1988-07 11 Ljubomir Ljubojević 2645 1983-01 Rafael Vaganian 2645 1986-01 Andrei Sokolov 2645 1987-01 Jonathan Speelman 2645 1988-07 Valery Salov 2645 1989-07 16 Robert Hübner 2640 1981-07 Ulf Andersson 2640 1983-07 Mikhail Gurevich 2640 1989-07 19 Lev Polugaevsky 2635 1980-01 Boris Spassky 2635 1981-01

1990s