Since July 2011, Magnus Carlsen, the current world chess champion, has ranked first in every rating list over the previous ten years. This unbroken run will soon surpass Garry Kasparov’s two-decade streaks as the top player from 1986 to 1996 and 1996 to his retirement in 2006. Magnus has had close calls; for instance, Fabiano Caruana would have won the 2018 World Championship match if Magnus had lost, but he has also remained unchallenged at the top of the live rating list for ten years.

Magnus was shocked to discover that he had held the top spot in the world for ten straight years.

“I didn’t even know that, but for me I guess it was more special either January 2010, when I was officially no. 1 for the first time, or in, I think, it was October 2008, when I was unofficially no. 1 for the first time, but it’s been a long time!”

Since then, Magnus has continued to lead every published list and the live rating list, which is updated following each game played.

As you might anticipate, such a feat puts him among the most elite company. Just seven players have topped the list since the official FIDE rating lists were first published in 1971, and only three of them have stayed at the top for as long as Magnus.

Magnus has surpassed Anatoly Karpov’s 102 months as the top player in the world, but he still needs to go almost nine years and three months to catch Garry Kasparov’s 255 months! Will Magnus continue to be ranked first for another ten years? Although he has already surpassed Garry in terms of uninterrupted streaks as the world’s number one, he says in the video above, “Unlikely, but we’ll see.”

From 1976 to 1983, Anatoly Karpov held the unbroken top spot in the world, but Garry first achieved that position with a run from 1986 to 1993. After Kasparov and Nigel Short rebelled against FIDE to play their World Championship match in 1993, the run was officially stopped at that point, but only because FIDE removed them from their rating lists in 1994. Garry was essentially the best player until January 1996, when 20-year-old Vladimir Kramnik tied Garry for first place with a rating of 2775 but took the top spot due to having played more games.

This meant that a new run began when Garry reclaimed the top spot in July 1996. This run would last until his retirement in March 2006, as he was no longer in the top spot in the rating list for April 2006. As a result, the streak was officially measured at 9 years, 9 months.