Ranking the ranking of top women

Who was the second best woman chess player ever?

How badly did the minor women´s world champions suck?

The best is of course the one who never played for women´s world championship. Polgar Judit, peak ranking nr. 8 of men.

Taking the rest in order...

1. Menchik is quoted by chessmetric as peaking at ranking 52, in 1929. Mostly lost to grandmasters, lost all 17 games to Capablanca and Alekhine, had even 2-1-2 record against Euwe but before Euwe was World Champions. Had she lived, definitely not Grandmaster level (the initial 1950 crop was 27 men), but definitely International Master.
2. Rudenko - Chessmetric has no idea
3. Bykova - not on Chessmetric
4. Rubtsova - not on Chessmetric
5. Gaprindashvili - peaking at ranking 113, in 1978, that is below Menchik
6. Chiburdanidze - peaking at ranking 42, in 1985. That is above Menchik. How do performances against top men compare? Like Chiburdanidze vs. Karpov? Vs. Kasparov?
7. Xie Jun - best ranking 83, for 2004 (while not champion!)
8. Polgar Zsuzsanna - best ranking 91, for 1992
9. Zhu Chen - best ranking 165, in 1997
10. Antoaneta Stefanova - best ranking 343 in 2004 (? - Chessmetric ends in January 2005)
11. Xu Yuhua - after Chessmetric
12. Alexandra Kosteniuk
13. Hou Yifan
14. Anna Ushenina
15. Mariya Muzychuk
16. Tan Zhongyi
17. Ju Wenjun

So can anyone comment on the peak ranking of world chess champions Rudenko to Rubtsova, and since Antoaneta Stefanova?

Best Judit Polgar

2nd best Hou Yifan

i'd say there's a pretty big gap between those two and everyone else.

Hou, Yifan (fide.com)

The top ranking seems to be 55, in May 2015.

Which is not above what Chessmetric gives for Chiburdanidze (or indeed Menchik).

Magnus says Hou Yifan is the second strongest woman player of all time, so you can factor that into your assessment.

This is Chessmetric:

Monthly List: August 1985 rating list (chessmetrics.com)

August 1985 assesses Maia at rating 2661, ranking 42 (top Kasparov at 2831)

For direct comparison to July (Fide only then):

Maia at rating 2657, ranking 43 (top Kasparov at 2824, Karpov at 2818)

Monthly List: July 1985 rating list (chessmetrics.com)

This is Fide:

FIDE Rating List July 1985 (olimpbase.org)

July 1985 assesses Maia at rating 2450, ranking 245-267 (top Karpov at 2720; Kasparov at 2700)

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2902257/chart

Judit Polgar x Kasparov is memorable

About Judit:

Polgar, Judit (fide.com)

In the entire period presented, July 2000 to August 2015, she was the top woman AND among the top 100 players - at the start of the period, July 2000, rating 2656, ranking 32; at the peak, January 2004 to October 2005, rating to 2735 and repeatedly ranking 8; retired at rating 2675 and ranking 69 in September-December 2014.

Hou Yifan has been continuously the best rating woman since March 2015 - rating 2686, ranking 59. But she had top ranking at 55 in May 2015, and has not been in top 100 since September 2022. Current ranking is 110.

Now, what were the rankings like before July 2000?