Top Chess Players in China

GM Wei Yi

2754 | #7

Chinese GM Wei Yi is an elite player and one of the greatest chess prodigies in history. At the age of 15, he broke GM Magnus Carlsen’s record for the youngest player to reach a rating of 2700, which Wei still holds. Two years prior, he became the fourth-youngest GM in history at the time (now...

GM Yu Yangyi

2717 | #23

Yu Yangyi is a Chinese super-grandmaster and world-class player. He was the World U-10 Champion (2004), the World Junior Champion (2013), the Chinese Champion (2013), as well as the Asian Continental Champion (2014).  He has won multiple international events and is a particularly strong rapid and...

GM Wang Hao

2684 | #36

GM Wang Hao is a super grandmaster who was a candidate for the world championship in 2020, which he achieved by winning the 2019 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. He had a fantastic youth career that culminated in winning the seventh Dubai Open at the age of 16, when he topped several dozen GMs and IMs as...

GM Bu Xiangzhi

2666 | #42

Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess champion and was for a time the youngest GM in history; as of June 2020, he is still the 10th-youngest player to ever become GM. He was also China’s 10th-ever GM. Bu has been a member of the 2700-rating club off and on since April 2008 and every month since June...

GM Lu Shanglei

Bio coming soon

GM Wang Yue

2625 | #85

Wang Yue is a Chinese grandmaster who holds three national championships: 2005, 2013, and 2024. He’s the first Chinese player to make the top 10 of the FIDE world rankings and the first to achieve a rating of 2700. For five years, Wang was the highest-ever rated player in Chinese chess history. Early...

GM Li Chao

2621 | #88

Li Chao is a Chinese grandmaster. He won the 2013 Asian Chess Championship and has had several top finishes in high-level tournaments around the world, such as his undefeated win at the Reykjavik Open in 2014. Li spent a considerable amount of time in 2015 and 2016 ranked in the world’s top-15...

GM Xu Xiangyu

Full bio coming soon.

GM Ma Qun

2611 | #103

Bio coming soon.

GM Bai Jinshi

Full bio coming soon.

GM Hou Yifan

2596 | #122

Despite being in only her mid-20s, Hou Yifan is widely considered to be the second-strongest female chess player in history (behind Judit Polgar). Among her top accomplishments are the four Women’s World Chess Championships Hou won before declining to participate in the event. She’s also...

GM Wen Yang

2574 | #154

Bio coming soon.

GM Lei Tingjie

2566 | #164

Lei Tingjie is a Chinese grandmaster who won a national championship in 2017 ahead of the women’s world champion at the time, GM Tan Zhongyi. The same year, Lei scored 8/9 points on the fourth board for the Chinese women’s team in the World Team Chess Championship, where they earned silver....

GM Dai Changren

GM Ju Wenjun

2559 | #178

GM Ju Wenjun is a Chinese grandmaster and the reigning Women’s Champion since May 2018, when she defeated GM Tan Zhongyi in a match. Ju has defended her title successfully four times: in a November 2018 tournament, a 2020 match against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, a 2023 match against GM Lei Tingjie,...

GM Zhang Pengxiang

GM Li Di

Full bio coming soon.

GM Tong Xiao

GM Zhu Jiner

2554 | #190

Zhu Jiner is a Chinese grandmaster and former girls under-14 world champion. She qualified for the Women's World Chess Championship in 2018, making it to the second round, and the same year won bronze at the Women's China Rapid Chess Championship. From June 2019 to time of publication in February 2021,...

GM Xue Haowen

2553 | #191

GM Zhao Jun

Bio coming soon.

GM Tan Zhongyi

2535 | #230

Tan Zhongyi is a Chinese grandmaster who was the women’s world chess champion from 2017 to 2018. She won the most notable title in women’s chess by defeating GM Anna Muzychuk in rapid tiebreaks, but then lost the title in her 2018 match with GM Ju Wenjun. Six years later, Tan won the 2024...

GM Yan Liu

Renjie Huang

Renjie Huang is a Chinese chess player who qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup. As of August 2023, he has no FIDE title despite an official rating of 2487.

GM Xu Yinglun

Bio coming soon.