One of the bloggers just posed these questions which I find interesting. Which are
– The strongest tournament of 18th century.
– The strongest tournament of 19th century.
– The strongest tournament of 20th century before ELO rating systems started.
– The strongest tournament of 20th century after ELO rating systems started.
I believe the highest rated tournament of all-time is the 2007 World Championship in Mexico City. That would be my guess. Any chess historian out there who knows the answers to the above questions? 🙂
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The strongest tournament of 19th century.
Hastings 1895 gets my vote. Vienna 1898 and London 1899 are also reasonable choices.
According to the ELo-system the 1996 Las Palmas (Kasparov won) was the highest with 2757 average. This Morelia-Linares is going to be the second strongest of all the time with 2756.
(Internet sources)
Ouch. that is a hard question because I haven’t studied tournaments that far back but I would appreciate if EVERYONE were to school me on this. Is their a site for something like that so I can write it on my blog too??
WCM Claudia Munoz
10 years old
womancandidatemaster.blogspot.com
Susan it is interesting. If the first six players played a round-robin tournament with the latest rating points that would be a XXII. category (2778). I the six is an acceptable number.
Such a strong classical tournament like that has never been organized yet.
This is a very good blog (the best).
I’ve just counted that how many points the players need in this Morelia-Linares tournament in order not to loose ELO.
Anand: 8
Topalov: 7.6
Shirov: 7
Lékó Peti: 6.9
Ivanchuk: 6.9
Aronian: 6.6
Radjabov: 6.5
Carlsen: 6.5
You really cannot go by rating, due to possible rating inflation over the years. Therefore, you could go by average ranking of the players (ranked #1 in the world, #2, #3, etc.). Sum all the rankings and the tournament with the lowest number would be the strongest. (You may want to account for number of player.) For pre-ELO days, you could use the chessmetrics ratings, or something similar.
If you like antique chess games, Hastings 1895 had two absolute classics:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132699
and
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1054736
No, they don’t play them like that any more. Whether or not today’s players produce more interesting chess, with the benefit of the intervening 112+ years of study and inquiry, I leave for you to decide.
St. Petersburg 1914, or New York 1924, for the 20th century.
Yes, I have a Lasker bias 🙂
St. Petersburg 1914, or New York 1924, for the 20th century.
Yes, I have a Lasker bias 🙂
You’re not alone! San Remo 1930 and AVRO 1938 also merit consideration.
Doesn’t the 1948 World Championship Tournament come into consideration?