List of FIDE chess world number ones
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, FIDE having dropped Fischer from the list due to inactivity. In January 1984, the third world number one was Garry Kasparov. Anatoly Karpov briefly held the world number one ranking in July 1985, and the fourth world number one, Vladimir Kramnik, briefly held the ranking in January 1996. Other than these two brief periods, Kasparov dominated for some 22 years from 1984 until his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005. In January 1990, he 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. 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, initially published in July from 1971 to 1973, then once in May, before switching to annual publication in January from 1975 to 1980.
From 1981 to July 2000, two lists per year were published, in January and July. In July 2000, the publication schedule was increased to four times a year operating from July 2000 to July 2009. In July 2009, the publication schedule was increased again, to six times a year operating from July 2009 to July 2012. 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 and Vladimir Kramnik are the only undisputed World Champions to never become ranked world number-one during their tenure as champions.
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.Timeline of world number ones
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Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
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id:usa value:blue legend:USA
id:ussr value:red legend:USSR
id:russia value:yellow legend:Russia
id:bulgaria value:green legend:Bulgaria
id:india value:orange legend:India
id:norway value:black legend:Norway
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at:01/01/2015 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1980 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1990 color:black layer:back
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at:01/01/2020 color:black layer:back
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bar:Fischer text:"Bobby Fischer"
bar:Karpov text:"Anatoly Karpov"
bar:Kasparov text:"Garry Kasparov"
bar:Kramnik text:"Vladimir Kramnik"
bar:Topalov text:"Veselin Topalov"
bar:Anand text:"Viswanathan Anand"
bar:Carlsen text:"Magnus Carlsen"
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bar:Fischer from:01/07/1971 till:01/01/1976 color:usa
bar:Karpov from:01/01/1976 till:01/01/1984 color:ussr
bar:Karpov from:01/07/1985 till:01/01/1986 color:ussr
bar:Kasparov from:01/01/1984 till:01/07/1985 color:ussr
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bar:Topalov from:01/04/2006 till:01/04/2007 color:bulgaria
bar:Topalov from:01/10/2008 till:01/01/2010 color:bulgaria
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bar:Anand from:01/04/2008 till:01/10/2008 color:india
bar:Anand from:01/11/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:india
bar:Anand from:01/03/2011 till:01/07/2011 color:india
bar:Kramnik from:01/01/1996 till:01/07/1996 color:russia
bar:Kramnik from:01/01/2008 till:01/04/2008 color:russia
bar:Carlsen from:01/01/2010 till:01/11/2010 color:norway
bar:Carlsen from:01/01/2011 till:01/03/2011 color:norway
bar:Carlsen from:01/07/2011 till:end color:norway
Player statistics
As of June 2017, seven players have held the world number one ranking over a period of 46 years and 0 months, encompassing 162 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. Kramnik and Spassky are the only world champions in the period in question to never have been world number one while being champion.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 12 times, successively 11 times over a period of 8 years, and once for 6 months. Kasparov has been world number one on the official list 54 times over a period of 22 years, 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 20 times successively over 10 years, then finally 31 times over 9 years and 9 months. Kramnik was world number one 2 times, for a total of 9 months. Topalov has been world number one successively 4 and 6 times, for 12 months and 15 months respectively. Anand has been world number one successively 2 and 3 times, for 6 months and 9 months respectively. Carlsen has been world number one a record 119 times, including a record 107 consecutive times from July 2011 until May 2020.
| 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 |
 | 255 | 2851 | 2710 | ||
 | 121 | 2882 | 2810 | ||
 | 102 | 2780 | 2695 | ||
 | 54 | 2785 | 2760 | ||
 | 27 | 2816 | 2804 | ||
 | 21 | 2817 | 2786 | ||
| | 9 | 2817 | 2775 |
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.Timeline
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ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1972
Colors =
id:ussr value:red legend:USSR
id:sweden value:rgb legend:Sweden
id:hungary value:rgb legend:Hungary
id:usa value:blue legend:USA
id:china value:rgb legend:China
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at:01/01/1980 color:black layer:back
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at:01/01/2010 color:black layer:back
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bar:Chiburdanidze text:"Maia Chiburdanidze"
bar:Cramling text:"Pia Cramling"
bar:SPolgar text:"Susan Polgar"
bar:JPolgar text:"Judit Polgar"
bar:HouYifan text:"Hou Yifan"
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bar:HouYifan from:01/09/2015 till:end color:china
Women statistics
| 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 |
 | 312 | 2735 | 2555 | ||
 | 102 | 2495 | 2390 | ||
| | 78 | 2560 | 2400 | ||
 | 41 | 2686 | 2686 | ||
| | 18 | 2577 | 2405 | ||
 | 12 | 2550 | 2355 |