Summary: 1935 - 1985 How to use this page
Duration: covering
Most Dominant Player between 1935 and 1985 See more details
   Mikhail Botvinnik: 10.9 years as #1 (between September 1936 and May 1958)
The player who was ranked #1 most often between 1935 and 1985 was Mikhail Botvinnik, with 131 different months as the top-ranked player (a total of 10.9 years). Next on the list were Bobby Fischer (9.1 years) and Anatoly Karpov (8.3 years).
Highest-Rated Player between 1935 and 1985 See more details
   Bobby Fischer: 2895 (October 1971)
The player who achieved the highest peak rating between 1935 and 1985 was Bobby Fischer, with a rating of 2895 on the October 1971 list. The next-highest peak ratings between 1935 and 1985 were achieved by Mikhail Botvinnik (2885 on the October 1945 list) and Garry Kasparov (2847 on the April 1984 list).
Strongest Tournament between 1935 and 1985 Summary only | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 50 | Top 100
   Nottingham, 1936: Class 20 (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8)
The strongest tournament held between 1935 and 1985 was Nottingham 1936. This was a Class 20 tournament, including eight of the top ten players in the world (from the August 1936 rating list). The next-strongest tournaments were AVRO 1938 (Class 20) and Zurich (Candidates) 1953 (Class 18).
     Event       Class       Top Ten Participation    Specific participants from top ten on rating list
 #1    Nottingham, 1936      20      #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8    #1 Max Euwe (2753), #2 Mikhail Botvinnik (2748), #3 Alexander Alekhine (2745), #4 Salo Flohr (2744), #5 José Capablanca (2742), #6 Samuel Reshevsky (2727), #7 Reuben Fine (2693), #8 Efim Bogoljubow (2682) from August 1936 rating list
 #2    AVRO, 1938      20      #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8    #1 Mikhail Botvinnik (2763), #2 Alexander Alekhine (2754), #3 Samuel Reshevsky (2745), #4 Reuben Fine (2737), #5 José Capablanca (2732), #6 Salo Flohr (2727), #7 Paul Keres (2718), #8 Max Euwe (2716) from November 1938 rating list
 #3    Zurich (Candidates), 1953      18      #1, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10    #1 Samuel Reshevsky (2781), #3 Vassily Smyslov (2765), #4 Miguel Najdorf (2753), #5 Efim Geller (2734), #6 Alexander Kotov (2727), #7 David Bronstein (2724), #8 Isaak Boleslavsky (2722), #9 Gideon Ståhlberg (2722), #10 Paul Keres (2721) from August 1953 rating list
 #4    Tilburg, 1983      16      #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8    #2 Anatoly Karpov (2806), #3 Ulf Andersson (2743), #4 Rafael Vaganian (2734), #5 Boris Spassky (2732), #6 Lajos Portisch (2731), #7 Jan Timman (2728), #8 Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2727) from October 1983 rating list
 #5    Moscow (Alekhine Memorial), 1956      15      #1, #2, #3, #4, #9    #1 Vassily Smyslov (2793), #2 Paul Keres (2782), #3 David Bronstein (2770), #4 Mikhail Botvinnik (2756), #9 Mark Taimanov (2714) from January 1956 rating list
NOTE: "Class" is a Chessmetrics formula used to rank the strength of a tournament, by using the participation of top-10 players from the rating list (rather than just using the average rating of all participants). For more details, go here.
Strongest Match between 1935 and 1985 See more details
   Karpov-Kasparov I (World Championship, Moscow), 1984: #1 vs #2
The strongest match held between 1935 and 1985 was Karpov-Kasparov I (World Championship, Moscow), 1984. This was a matchup of #1 vs #2, including #1 Garry Kasparov (2844) and #2 Anatoly Karpov (2811) from the September 1984 rating list. Next on the list were Karpov-Korchnoi II (World Championship, Baguio City), 1978 (#1 vs #2) and Karpov-Korchnoi III (World Championship, Merano), 1981 (#1 vs #2).
Best Individual Event Performance between 1935 and 1985 See more details
   Bobby Fischer: 2887 in Fischer-Larsen Match (Candidates semifinal, Denver), 1971
The best individual event performance between 1935 and 1985 was achieved by Bobby Fischer with a Chessmetrics Performance Rating of 2887 in Fischer-Larsen Match (Candidates semifinal, Denver), 1971. The next-best individual event performances were achieved by Anatoly Karpov (2873 performance) in Karpov-Kasparov I (World Championship, Moscow), 1984, and by Bobby Fischer (2870 performance) in Fischer-Taimanov Match (Candidates quarterfinal, Vancouver), 1971.