Highest Chess Rating, Men

The highest FIDE rating ever attained by a chess player is 2,882, achieved by Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen (Norway) in May 2014. This rating resulted from an impressive performance the previous month at the Shamkir Chess tournament in Azerbaijan. Carlsen recorded five victories against grandmaster opponents and won the tournament. He matched his own record in August 2019, after an impressive seven-month run that saw Carlsen defend his World Championship title and win six major tournaments in a row.

FIDE ratings are compiled using a system known as Elo rating. In this system, each player has a score, which goes up or down according to their performance against other rated players. If a player wins a match against another player, they gain some of their points. The number of points transferred is based on the difference between the two players’ rankings.

A high-rated player defeating a low-rated player will win very few points, while a low-rated player beating a high-rated player will win many more. Players can also gain points from a draw if their opponent has a significantly higher rating.

It was invented by the Hungarian-American physicist (and chess player) Arpad Elo.