Magnus Carlsen
The highest rating ever. Gave up the title by choice.
Gukesh Dommaraju
The youngest undisputed world champion in the open section yet.
Today: the list and the title
FIDE publishes a new rating list on the first of every month. This is what the top of the active players looked like in November 2026.
| Rank | Player | Rating | Country | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2823 | Norway | 1990 |
| 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2792 | United States | 1987 |
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2783 | United States | 1992 |
| 4 | Javokhir Sindarov | 2782 | Uzbekistan | 2005 |
| 5 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2772 | Uzbekistan | 2004 |
Carlsen has been number one without a break since July 2011. He was world champion from 2013 to 2023 and then chose not to defend the title.
The world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, had 2710 on the same list. That isn't as odd as it sounds: the title is won in a match, while a rating measures results over time. Javokhir Sindarov, fourth on the list, plays him for the title in Geneva starting November 24, 2026. More under Who is the world chess champion?
Among active women, Hou Yifan of China was first with 2596. Ju Wenjun, the women's world champion, had 2553 and ranked third.
The records
These can be counted. The highest rating refers to FIDE's lists, which go back to July 1971.
| Record | Who | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Highest rating | Magnus Carlsen | 2882, May 2014 and again August 2019 |
| Most months as world number one on FIDE's lists | Garry Kasparov | 255 months |
| Longest as world champion in the open section | Emanuel Lasker | 27 years, 1894–1921 |
| Highest rating among women | Judit Polgár | 2735, July 2005 |
| Longest as the top-rated woman | Judit Polgár | over 26 years, from January 1989 |
| Longest as women's world champion | Vera Menchik | almost 17 years, 1927–1944 |
At her best Judit Polgár was eighth in the world. You can watch her beat Garry Kasparov in 2002 here on the site.
Who was the best of all time?
That can't be measured, and we don't rank them. A rating compares players with the people they are playing at the time, so a number from 1972 and a number from 2014 don't mean the same thing. Bobby Fischer had 2785 in July 1972, a full 125 points ahead of the number two, Boris Spassky. Anyone who stopped playing before 1971 has no rating at all on FIDE's lists.
If you'd like to form your own opinion, read about every world champion among the great chess players and replay their famous games.
Sources
- FIDE: Top 100 Players and Top 100 Women, November 2026; the rating list, November 2026
- FIDE: Rating Regulations, effective March 1, 2024
- Wikipedia: FIDE rankings; List of FIDE chess world number ones; List of world records in chess; Judit Polgár
- Chess.com: Judit Polgar
- OlimpBase: FIDE's list of July 1972
- The players' pages on this site and their sources (Carlsen, Kasparov, Lasker, Menchik, Fischer)
The facts on this page come from the sources above and, where possible, were checked across several sources. Where the sources disagree, we say less or say what each one says. A number that is an estimate says whose it is, and a counted number comes with its date.
The photos:
- Magnus Carlsen: Photo: Stefan64, 2024. CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and toned.
- Gukesh Dommaraju: Photo: Frans Peeters, 2025. CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and toned.
Updated November 9, 2026