Which chess player has the highest rating ever?

Chess ratings use the Elo system, devised by physicist Arpad Elo and adopted by FIDE in 1970. Before Carlsen, the peak was Garry Kasparov’s 2851, set in 1999. Carlsen became a grandmaster in 2004 at just 13 and was world champion from 2013 to 2023, when he chose not to defend his title. He also went 125 classical games without a loss between 2018 and 2020. Most grandmasters are rated somewhere between 2500 and 2700, which shows how far above the field he has been.