The title of grandmaster was formally awarded by FIDE, the requirements were simple but demanding at least 3 grandmaster norms in international competition with a 2600 performance rating in 9 rounds , with the competition having several international players and an Arbiter and a time control of about 2 hours, this will require a range of skill set,ranking and performance rating of at least 2500,this will make the grandmaster title obtainable. this gives a lifetime diamond membership on chess.com,a privilege. It all started in 1950 when 27 select few were given a vote of approval in the FIDE congress it was a lifetime title,performances increased the ratings which led to the next level which is the super grandmaster level with a prerequisite rating of at least 2700, the exclusive elite list of the highest level is a peak within 2800, with only 14 players ever in that special list of top level Grand masters, most of them are the finest set of players this century. a collection of super stars across Europe, the United states and now Asia. Prodigies and Geniuses that have set an extraordinary standard.
The fourteen of them includes, six world champions, 5 world number one, 4 of them naturalized, with 3 each from Russia and the United States. it is a very remarkable selection based on astonishing performances. if you consider that Bobby Fischer`s peak rating of 2785 set in the 70s was only eclipsed by Garry Kasparov when a new milestone was set between 1999 and 2007 and the others, being players in this 21st century. the American`s feat and subsequent progressive evolution of performance will be better appreciated. feats that are almost impossible to achieve.
The 14 Great Grandmasters with 2800 rating performance
The newest entry on this exclusive list has an exciting prospect, the youngest in this category, the Iranian born Firouzja, he was also the highest ranked junior player, so far he has participated at two candidates tournament he has won high level tournaments, notably in 2022 the Grand chess tour with the Sinquefield cup, he is the defending champion of the famous American tournament. The Russian Grischuk peaked at 2810, won the prestigious Russian title and also Linares in 2009 and have participated in five candidates tournament. his highest ranking was when he reached the 3rd position in may 2021.for Ding Liren the current world champion, the highest ever Chinese player and winner of the grand chess tour and Sinquefield cup in 2019, he will defend his title this year against Gukesh guarantying an Asian world champion for another period and probably a fifteenth member of this elite group. his peak rating is tied with Nakamura and Topalov. the American Nakamura currently the second best player in the world, is a five time US champion, ranked number one in both rapid and blitz chess rating. he won both the Gibraltar chess festival and the Zurich chess challenge back to back in 2016, helping the United States to win the Olympiad in Baku. he won the Gibraltar chess festival again the following year. he has had very strong performances. Veselin Topalov, the Bulgarian super grand master and the last man to beat the Legendary Kasparov, he has been world number one on several occasions peaking when he held it for two years between October 2008 and January 2010, he held it for 27 months the fifth longest period in history, he reached his peak in July 2015, he had won individual gold at the Olympics in 2014 and had the best overall performance in 1994. he has won several top level tournaments which includes Linares,Dortmund and Corus.next on the list with a point ahead are two players that he contested against for the world title and number one position Kramnik and Anand, the Russian also renowned for ending Kasparov`s title defence in 2000 and also winning the unification match in 2006, his contribution to opening theory was deeply astonishing he won the FIDE world cup in 2013, for the Indian grandmaster, he made the game very popular in Asia especially in India which has witnessed a chess boom, he is a five time world champion and also a winner in rapid(2003,2007) and the blitz(2000). his 21 months as world number one is the sixth longest of all time. he won the Reggio Emilia in 1991 this was when the world took full notice of his ability,He won other important tournaments a multiple times such as Leon masters(10), Linares (3)Corus(5) and Dortmund(3). The Frenchman Vachier Lagrave with a peak rating of 2819 sits alone at number seven, the highest ever from his country, he won the Sinquefield cup in 2017 and 2021 and the french championship thrice 2009,2011 and 2012 and the Biel Grand master tournament for four successive years between 2013 to 2016 adding to his first win in 2009 , he came second at the candidates tournament in 2020/21 half a point behind Nepomniachtchi.winner in Dortmund in 2016,Bucharest superbet classic in 2022 he also has very strong results in the faster control games in rapid, Blitz and bullet tournaments. a world blitz champion in 2021. Mamedyarov, a double junior world champion in 2003 and 2005 a record, he won Hoogeveen twice in 2006 and retained it in 2007, he was joint first with Kramnik and Kamsky at the President`s cup also a joint winner of the Tal memorial in 2010 and 2014, double winner of the Gashimov memorial in 2016 and 2017 and Biel chess festival in 2018,superbet classic winner in 2021 and Shusha in 2022. he is also a champion at the rapid tournaments notably the world rapid chess championship in 2013.he is the highest ranked player from Azerbaijan. Wesley So is one of the trio of naturalized Americans that increased the rating and performance from the north Americans, they have been able to compete against the Russians and the rest of the best at international events, So peaked at 2822, he was also the highest ever ranked Filipino player, a three time Filipino and US champion, he was ranked as high as world number two in march 2017, he won the FIDE World Fischer Random chess championship in 2019, the eleventh player to pass the 2800 mark, he has had strong tournament wins in 2015 Bilbao chess masters, the following year victories at the Sinquefield cup and London chess classic which helped him win the Grand chess tour, in 2017 he won Tata Steel masters and the 2021 Grand chess tour, he won both gold medals as an individual and team event in the chess Olympiad at Baku in 2016. Levon Aronian was another strong grandmaster that settled in the united States, a former 2009 rapid and 2010 blitz world champion, he reached the world number two position in march 2014, he won the FIDE world cup twice 2005 and 2017, he won the Grand Prix 2008-2010, a world champion in the FIDE World Fischer Random chess championship known as Chess960 in 2006 and 2007. Caruana the Italian American peaked at 2844, the strongest challenger against Carlson in the ranking, he has been the highest ranked Italian from 2007 until 2015 and continued as the top player in America from that year. he was Italian champion four times and won the Sinquefield cup in 2014 with an incredible 3098 performance rating which is a record, he won the candidates tournament in 2018 in his second attempt and lost narrowly to Carlson in the rapid tie breaks in the duel for the world title. his winning streak in Sinquefield which was the strongest ever tournament in history based on the average rating of the players which was 2802 and he dominated the tournament, as at round 7 had a winning streak of seven, a 100% record, he went on to win with 8.5/10 a historic feat which was fondly compared to Fischer`s 20 game winning streak, Carlson`s 8/10 and Karpov`s linares 1994 win where he scored 11/13. it is now a milestone for tournament performance. a result for the ages.
The greatest ranking domination in history Kasparov and Carlson
Kasparov and Carlson
Kasparov the first to reach 2800 in 1999, he was the world champion from 1985 until 2000 and held the top ranking for a record 255 months, his peak of 2851 was a record, his consistency for more than two decades is truly amazing. between 1981 and 1990 he won the most, 15 consecutive tournament victories tying for first position or winning out rightly, it was 10 in the late 1990s. he was a model of excellence. he trained and mentored Carlson. The Norwegian took over chess dominance and continued from where the Russian great stopped.he has been world number one since the July 2011 ranking, he was the youngest number one in 2010 at 19 years 32 days, reaching the highest ever peak in human history in may 2014, he was also a multiple world champion, the only player to hold world titles in blitz, rapid and classical at the same time he did it thrice(2014,2019 and 2022), he has the longest unbeaten record at 125 games, he is the highest ranked player in blitz,rapid and the classical category reaching beyond 2800 in three of them and 2900 in the rapid and blitz formats a record as well, he is indeed the best.
The accumulation of this elite rating was influenced by a need for greatness which started when Kasparov was competing to unseat his great rival Karpov after the chess standard set by Bobby Fischer, this relentless pursuit of honor led Garry to the top and sustained him leaving others in their wake, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov were able to wake up to reality, distinguish themselves from others and maintained the high competition, all peaked at a similar rating, the trio reached the number one spot then Carlson took over, the trio of Americans Nakamura, Aronian and especially Caruana chased him but have still not reached the top spot, the world is waiting for Firouzja and the emerging Indians not far behind to take over the Carlson challenge an Indian summer may not be an illusion for MVL world champion Liren and any player that believes and is ready to do what is absolutely necessary to reach the top. at this rate 2900 can be breached. Sportumentary will be available, Chess is exciting and appealing, we have seen glimpses of its future.
