Breaking the 2900 Barrier

Nearly five months ago, in Breaking the 2800 Barrier (December 2018), I predicted,

I'll be back in another 100 posts to write 'Breaking the 2900 Barrier'. It promises to be a short post.

Post no.2900 was Other 'Schachzeitungen', so here I am, as promised. It turns out that it's not going to be such a short post after all.

According to Comparison of top chess players throughout history (wikipedia.org), Magnus Carlsen achieved the highest chess rating of all time, when he reached 2882 in May 2014. He's currently rated at 2845, still world no.1 but a long way from the elusive 2900. Some day he or another super-talented player might reach 2900, although it's anybody's guess when that will happen, if ever.

For 2900 ratings, we have to turn to the world of chess engines. Here is a relevant chart signed Luke Muehlhauser and dated 2011.

Historical chess engines' estimated ELO ratings (PDF)

I've marked the 2900 crossover point with a red star. The engine under the star is Shredder 8.0 and the year was 2003 or thereabouts. As for 'Breaking the 3000 Barrier', the same chart points to Rybka 1.2 a few years later. Looks like I won't have to write the 3000 post at all.