Answers.Body: <p>According to <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/profeor-arpad-e-elo-a-fond-remembrance" rel="noreferrer">this article</a> on the <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/" rel="noreferrer">Chessbase</a> site:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Using his own rating system to estimate his playing strength, he
  calculated his best five-year average rating at 2230 – enough to have
  earned for him the national master title.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>In this context, &quot;national master&quot; refers to the USCF National Master title.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: patbarron
Answers.Body: <p>Arpad Elo was rated 2065 in the <a href="http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/1960/1960_08_1.pdf" rel="noreferrer">August 5 1960</a> Chess Life ratings list. I believe this list was the first he appeared in that used his Elo system rather than the previous Harkness system. Elo turned 57 years old that month, and he was likely stronger than that when he was younger.</p>
  <p>In the <a href="https://archive.org/details/ChessLife1950/page/n91/mode/2up" rel="noreferrer">November 20 1950</a> ratings list, which used the Harkness system, Elo was rated 2266. In this system, this rating was considered expert level.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-06-26T00:15:13.740Z
Answers.Text: Accepting this answer rather than my own, because it directly reflects what Elo's Elo rating actually *was* - not (as I presume from the quote in my answer - that I haven't been able to find an original source for...) going back and retrospectively applying the rating system to past play to compute what the rating *would have been* if the system had been in place...
Answers.UserDisplayName: patbarron
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Answers.Text: For reference, from [the graphs for males' rating vs age](https://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2018/08/13/quantile-regression-chess-ratings.html) Elo's peak Elo rating can be estimated to be 2180.
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Body: <p>I've found several sources that indicate that Arpad Elo was a &quot;master-level chess player&quot;, but it's been very difficult to find any information about what Elo's own rating would have been under his own system - primarily because if you do the obvious Internet searches like <code>arpad elo rating</code>, you just get flooded with search results about the Elo rating system itself, and other players' Elo ratings.  The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Elo" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia article</a> on Elo doesn't include any information about his own rating, and <a href="http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/" rel="noreferrer">Chessmetrics</a> doesn't include any information about Elo's rating either.</p>
  <p>Is there any source that gives any information about what Elo's own rating would have been?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-06-23T22:26:42.470Z
Comments.Text: I'm posting this as a self-answered question because I was curious about this, and it was really hard to find any information about this topic - so I thought it would be a good thing to post it here to preserve the information and possibly save others the trouble of digging for it.  If anyone has any other references for Elo's own rating, I'd be interested to know about it.
Comments.UserDisplayName: patbarron
Tags: <rating>
Title: What was Arpad Elo's own Elo rating?
ThreadText: # What was Arpad Elo's own Elo rating?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-23)
  
  I've found several sources that indicate that Arpad Elo was a "master-level chess player", but it's been very difficult to find any information about what Elo's own rating would have been under his own system - primarily because if you do the obvious Internet searches like `arpad elo rating`, you just get flooded with search results about the Elo rating system itself, and other players' Elo ratings. The [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Elo) on Elo doesn't include any information about his own rating, and [Chessmetrics](http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/) doesn't include any information about Elo's rating either.
  
  Is there any source that gives any information about what Elo's own rating would have been?
  
  **Tags:** rating
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I'm posting this as a self-answered question because I was curious about this, and it was really hard to find any information about this topic - so I thought it would be a good thing to post it here to preserve the information and possibly save others the trouble of digging for it.  If anyone has any other references for Elo's own rating, I'd be interested to know about it.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-06-24. Score: 18 | Accepted answer
  
  Arpad Elo was rated 2065 in the [August 5 1960](http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/1960/1960_08_1.pdf) Chess Life ratings list. I believe this list was the first he appeared in that used his Elo system rather than the previous Harkness system. Elo turned 57 years old that month, and he was likely stronger than that when he was younger.
  
  In the [November 20 1950](https://archive.org/details/ChessLife1950/page/n91/mode/2up) ratings list, which used the Harkness system, Elo was rated 2266. In this system, this rating was considered expert level.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Accepting this answer rather than my own, because it directly reflects what Elo's Elo rating actually *was* - not (as I presume from the quote in my answer - that I haven't been able to find an original source for...) going back and retrospectively applying the rating system to past play to compute what the rating *would have been* if the system had been in place...  
  > **username_2**: For reference, from [the graphs for males' rating vs age](https://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2018/08/13/quantile-regression-chess-ratings.html) Elo's peak Elo rating can be estimated to be 2180.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2021-06-23. Score: 14
  
  According to [this article](https://en.chessbase.com/post/profeor-arpad-e-elo-a-fond-remembrance) on the [Chessbase](https://en.chessbase.com/) site:
  
  > Using his own rating system to estimate his playing strength, he
  > calculated his best five-year average rating at 2230 – enough to have
  > earned for him the national master title.
  
  In this context, "national master" refers to the USCF National Master title.
  
  
  ---
  
  