Chess Rating System - Chronology

Chronology

• 1933 – The Correspondence Chess League of America (now ICCF U.S.A.) is the first national organization to use a numerical rating system. It chooses the Short system which clubs on the west coast of the US had used. In 1934 the CCLA switched to the Walt James Percentage System but in 1940 returned to a point system designed by Kenneth Williams.
• 1942 – Chess Review uses the Harkness system, an improvement of the Williams system.
• 1944 – The CCLA changes to an improved version of the Williams system devised by William Wilcock. A slight change to the system was made in 1949.
• 1946 – The USSR Chess Federation uses a non-numerical system to classify players.
• 1948 – The Ingo system is published and used by the West German Chess Federation.
• 1949 – The Harkness system is submitted to the USCF. The British Chess Federation adopts it later and uses it at least as late as 1967 (Harkness 1967:184).
• 1950 – The USCF starts using the Harkness system and publishes its first rating list in the November issue of Chess Life. Reuben Fine is first with a rating of 2817 and Sammy Reshevsky is second with 2770 (Lawrence 2009).
• 1959 – The USCF names Arpad Elo the head of a committee to examine all rating systems and make recommendations.
• 1961 – Elo develops his system and it is used by the USCF (Harkness 1967:184). It is published in the June 1961 issue of Chess Life (Elo 1978:197).
• 1970 – FIDE starts using the Elo system. Bobby Fischer is at the top of the list (Elo 1978:68,89).
• 1978 – Elo's book (The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present) on his rating system is published.
• 1993 – Deutsche Wertungszahl replaces the Ingo system in Germany.
• 2001 – the Glicko system is published.
• 2005 – Chessmetrics is published by Jeff Sonas.