Edo Historical Chess Ratings
This is a site I just came across. It is a project by Canadian mathematician Dr. Rod Edwards, who provides career records and year-by-year rating statistics for 19th century amateurs and professionals. VISIT
Also, the Chessmetrics website is devoted to statistics about historical ratings
Thank you very much for this link! The ratings kind of fall where a chess historian might place them I was a little surprised that Tal was down to #18. Thought Steinitz would be higher too.I have a book by Keene called "Warriors of the Mind". Still unread but I need add that to my book que
ReplyDeleteThese sites are fun to explore but I think it's important to remember that ratings measure performance, not ability, as stated by Prof. Elo himself. Of course players with the most ability usually have the best results, but I don’t think a 2600 rating of a hundred years ago translates into a 2600 of today because you are measuring results. Theoretically I could play enough games against a 1000 rated player and, if I played enough games, get a 2600 rating. Essentially that was what Claude Bloodgood did when he was in the Virginia State Prison…he played hundreds of rated games against fellow prisoners and eventually became one of the highest rated players in the US.
ReplyDelete