The concept of "ranked competitive" systems, in general, evolved over time, but if we're talking about ranked competitive structures in games or sports, we can trace it back to a few key milestones in history:
Ancient and Medieval Competitions: Even in ancient civilizations, competitive games, including some forms of organized sports or games like wrestling, were often ranked in some way, though these rankings were informal.
Modern Sports Rankings: The formal idea of ranking athletes based on performance in a competitive environment began to take shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially with the establishment of professional leagues. For example:
Tennis established its first official ranking system in the 1910s. Golf created a ranking system (the "Official World Golf Ranking") in 1986.
All of this was way before chess was invented, around 2014 or so.
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