In January 1976 Anatoly Karpov became the highest-rated player on the FIDE list, FIDE having dropped Fischer (whose rating was higher than Karpov's) from the list due to inactivity.
He would dominate for 22 years from 1984 until his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, with three brief interruptions: Anatoly Karpov briefly held the world number one ranking again in July 1985, as well as during 1994 when FIDE excluded Kasparov from the list; and the fourth world number one, Vladimir Kramnik, briefly held the ranking in January 1996.
In January 1990, Kasparov surpassed Fischer's peak of 2785 and became the first player ever to achieve a 2800 rating.
This was the highest FIDE rating in history until January 2013, when it was surpassed by Magnus Carlsen.
In April 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the sixth player to top the rankings.
For most of the period April 2007 to November 2009, the top ranking was held by either Anand or Topalov.
The seventh and current world number one is Magnus Carlsen, who first achieved this ranking in the January 2010 list, and has been world number one since July 2011 after having lost and reclaimed the position from Anand during 2010 and 2011.
The number of games played by individuals during the rating period was added to the lists from July 1985 onwards.
Seven players have held the world number one ranking over a period of 53 years and 8 months, encompassing 255 rating lists.