The Top Chess Players in the World

GM Andrei Volokitin 2661 | #72

Ukraine

Andrei Volokitin is a Ukrainian grandmaster and two-time national champion. He won silver and bronze medals at the World Chess Championship in the under-12 and under-14 categories, and was part of the gold-medal winning Ukrainian national youth team at the Under-16 Chess Olympiad in 1999. Two years...

GM Hans Moke Niemann 2660 | #77

United States

Hans Niemann is an American grandmaster and chess streamer. Neimann quickly rose through the ranks of chess, earning his FIDE master title in 2016, only four years after his first rated tournament where he had received a provisional US Chess rating of just 1122. He tied for first in the U-18 North...

GM Javokhir Sindarov 2659 | #78

Uzbekistan

GM Javokhir Sindarov is a grandmaster from Uzbekistan. One of the youngest grandmasters in history, in 2018 he earned his GM title at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 5 days. He is one of just five players to earn the title before turning 13 years old (as of August 2022). Sindarov is also a two-time...

GM Wang Yue 2659 | #78

China

Wang Yue is a Chinese grandmaster who holds two national championships. 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 Chess Career (1992...

GM Michael Adams 2658 | #80

England

Michael “Mickey” Adams is a British chess grandmaster, one of the United Kingdom's and England’s greatest-ever players. Per his website, he has finished first or tied for first in at least 60 events in his chess career. Your browser does not support the audio element. Early Life...

GM Ernesto Inarkiev 2658 | #80

FIDE

Ernesto Inarkiev is a Russian grandmaster who won the 2016 European Individual Chess Championship. Earlier in his career, he was European U16 Champion (2001) and Russian Junior (under-20) Champion (2002). Inarkiev earned his GM title in 2002, becoming the first-ever from Kalmykia, a republic of Russia....

GM Ivan Cheparinov 2657 | #82

Bulgaria

Ivan Cheparinov is a Bulgarian grandmaster who has represented Georgia since 2018. He is a four-time Bulgarian champion. In 2018, he reached both his peak rating (2718) and peak world ranking (32) for his career (as of February 2021). Other notable performances came when he won the junior...

GM Ivan Saric 2657 | #82

Croatia

Ivan Saric was born on August 17, 1990, in Split, Croatia. He is currently the highest-rated Croatian grandmaster (as of February 2021) and has been on Croatia's Olympic team since 2010. He reached his peak FIDE rating of 2703 in 2019. Saric won the Under-18 European Championship in 2007, a year before...

GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko 2656 | #84

Ukraine

Yuriy Kryvoruchko is a Ukrainian grandmaster and the 2013 Ukrainian Chess Champion. That victory came after he defeated GM and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov on tiebreaks. The same year, Kryvoruchko made it to the third round of the World Cup after a surprising win against GM Michael Adams...

GM Jaime Santos Latasa 2656 | #84

Spain

Full bio coming soon...

GM Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna 2656 | #84

India

In this name, S L stands for Sunilduth Lyna which is his father's name, and the player should be referred to by the given name, NarayananS.L. Narayanan is an Indian grandmaster who won the Asian U-16 title in 2012. He also won the gold medal in the Asian Junior Blitz Chess Championship in 2016 and accumulated...

GM Li Chao 2652 | #87

China

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 Laurent Fressinet 2652 | #87

France

GM Laurent Fressinet is a French grandmaster, two-time French champion, and longtime second to GM Magnus Carlsen.

GM Alexandr Predke 2651 | #89

Serbia

Alexandr Predke is a Russian grandmaster who won the U16 Russian Youth Chess Championship in 2010. He placed third in the 2014 Russian Junior Championship (U20), and then in 2017, finished second in the Lev Polugaevsky Memorial tournament. In September 2019, he made his first appearance in the world’s...

GM Ni Hua 2651 | #89

China

Ni Hua is a Chinese grandmaster and captain of the national team. Ni won the national championship in three consecutive years, and, along with GM Bu Xiangzhi in April 2008, the two became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700-rating barrier (after GM Wang Yue). Ni played board four for...

GM Arkadij Naiditsch 2651 | #89

Azerbaijan

Arkadij Naiditsch is a German-Azerbaijani grandmaster and a former top-20 player in the world. He won the Dortmund Sparkassen 2005 tournament ahead of GMs like Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, and Vladimir Kramnik. In 2007, Naiditsch won the German Chess Championship while playing for the country. He...

GM Ma Qun 2651 | #89

China

Bio coming soon.

GM Ruslan Ponomariov 2650 | #93

Ukraine

Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov is a former FIDE world champion and one of the greatest chess prodigies in history. He earned the world title at the age of 18 and in 1997 became the youngest person at the time to become a grandmaster—only 17 days after turning 14 years old. The same year, he won...

GM Hrant Melkumyan 2650 | #93

Armenia

Hrant Melkumyan is an Armenian grandmaster who won the European Blitz Championship in 2011. After a strong showing in the 2014 European Individual Championship (7.5/11), he competed in the 2015 World Cup and defeated GM Gata Kamsky in the first round before losing in the next round. Melkumyan placed...

GM Awonder Liang 2649 | #95

United States

Awonder Liang is an American grandmaster and the 2011 World U8 Champion. He’s well-known for being the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster in a standard tournament game when at the age of 9 years, three months, and 20 days, he beat GM Larry Kaufman. Liang is also the second-youngest grandmaster...

GM Evgeniy Najer 2648 | #96

FIDE

Evgeniy Najer is a Russian grandmaster who became the European champion in 2015. In August 2017, he achieved his peak rating of 2707 and peak world ranking of 39. He’s had several open tournament wins, perhaps most notably back-to-back victories at the World Open in Philadelphia in 2008 and 2009....

GM Nijat Abasov 2646 | #97

Azerbaijan

Nijat Abasov is an Azerbaijani grandmaster and the 2017 Azerbaijani Chess Champion. That year he won the Baku Open tournament, and another notable tournament win came at the 2016 Zurich Christmas Open. Abasov became a GM at the age of 15 and entered the list of the top-100 players in the world in November...

GM Vladimir Malakhov 2646 | #97

FIDE

Vladimir Malakhov is a Russian grandmaster. He won the 2009 European Rapid Chess Championship and won gold with Russia at the 2009 World Team Chess Championship. Also that year, he made it to the semifinals of the Chess World Cup. As a youth player, Malakhov won the Under-12 Russian Championship in...

GM Aravindh Chithambaram 2645 | #99

India

The name Chithambaram is a patronymic, and the player should be referred to by his name, Aravindh.Aravindh Chithambaram is an Indian grandmaster who qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup. Your browser does not support the audio element.

GM Alexander Ipatov

Turkey

Alexander Ipatov is a Turkish Grandmaster.