Top Chess Players in the World

Daniel Rensch

Daniel Rensch (born October 10, 1985) is an American chess player, International master, event organizer, lecturer, and commentator. He holds the Arizona state record for youngest national master, at 14 years old. He is the president of American Chess Events LLC and chief chess officer of Chess.com. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Rensch

Ian Nepomniachtchi

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (“Nepo” for short) is a Russian super grandmaster who won the 2020/21 Candidates Tournament and will face GM Magnus Carlsen for the world championship. Source: Chess.com

Ian Nepomniachtchi ❯❯

Magnus Carlsen

GM Magnus Carlsen is the current world chess champion. To many people, he’s the best to ever play the game, although GMs Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer remain in the conversation. At any rate, the clear and remarkable point is that before turning 30 years old, Carlsen has already earned a spot at the top. Source: Chess.com

Magnus Carlsen ❯❯

Alexandra Botez

Alexandra Valeria Botez (born September 24, 1995) is an American-Canadian chess player and commentator, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. As a player, she became a five-time Canadian National Girls Champion and won the U.S. Girls Nationals at age 15. She achieved her highest FIDE Elo rating of 2092 in March 2016, and she currently holds the International Chess Federation title of Woman FIDE Master. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Botez

Anish Giri

GM Anish Giri is a four-time Dutch champion and a world-class player. He has been ranked as high as number three in the world and reached his peak rating of 2802 on February 15, 2015. Giri has represented the Netherlands at the Olympiads since 2010. He won the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament and the 2017 Reykjavik Open. He scored his first major victory at the Shenzhen Masters in the summer of 2019 and in March 2021 he won the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Source: Chess.com

Anish Giri ❯❯

Jan-Krzysztof Duda

GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda is one of the youngest members of the 2700 club of super grandmasters (reached in 2017), having turned 22 years old in April 2020. The latest in a history of strong GMs from Poland, he plays on Chess.com as Polish_fighter3000. Source: Chess.com

Jan-Krzysztof Duda ❯❯

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand, the 15th undisputed chess champion and surely the greatest Indian chess player of all time, was born on Dec. 11, 1969 in Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, the southeasternmost state in India. Anand, noted for playing quickly early in his career, competed for the classical championship in 1995 and was FIDE champion from 2000-2002 before claiming the reunited title in 2007. He held that title for six years until 2013 and has also had a productive post-championship career at an age when many other top players have retired. Source: Chess.com

Viswanathan Anand ❯❯

Soumya Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan is a chess player holding the title of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) from India. She won the World Junior Girls’ Championship 2009 held in Puerto Madryn, Argentina edging out on tiebreak score Deysi Cori and Betul Cemre Yildiz. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soumya_Swaminathan_(chess_player)

Richard Rapport

Richard Rapport is a Hungarian grandmaster and former chess prodigy. Prior to turning 14 years old, he became the youngest-ever Hungarian GM and the youngest GM in the world at the time. In 2017, he became Hungarian Chess Champion. Rapport broke the 2750-rating threshold in September 2019 and, a few months later, entered the ranking of the world’s top-15 players. Source: Chess.com

Richard Rapport ❯❯

Surya Sekhar Ganguly

Surya Sekhar Ganguly (born 24 February 1983) is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676 (July, 2016). Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a grandmaster at the age of 19. He has won 40 individual gold, 21 individual silver and 6 individual bronze medals in National as well as International tournaments. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Shekhar_Ganguly

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian is an Armenian (soon to be U.S.) super grandmaster who has long been among the world’s best players. He first entered the top 20 in 2005 and still hasn’t lost that distinction. Most of those 15 years or so have been spent in the top 10. Source: Chess.com

Levon Aronian ❯❯

Anna Rudolf

Anna Rudolf (born 12 November 1987) is a Hungarian chess player, chess commentator, Twitch live streamer, and YouTuber who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a three-time Hungarian women’s national champion and has represented Hungary at the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship. Rudolf has a peak FIDE rating of 2393 and a career-best ranking of No. 71 in the world among women. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Rudolf

Hikaru-Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura has been one of the world’s top players for well over a decade. He was clearly the top American player for much of that time and is now a key contributor to one of the strongest chess scenes in the world. He is a five-time U.S. champion, claiming the title in 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2019. Nakamura was also a participant in FIDE’s 2004 World Championship tournament and a candidate for the world championship in 2016. As of August 2020, he is the highest-rated blitz player in the world with a 2900 FIDE blitz rating. Source: Chess.com

Hikaru-Nakamura ❯❯

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is a super-grandmaster from Azerbaijan. He was the number-two ranked player in the world in the FIDE ratings list of February 2018. According to 2700chess.com, Mamedyarov reached his peak rating of 2826 on September 30, 2018—the sixth-highest rating of all time. Source: Chess.com

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ❯❯

Ding Liren

Ding Liren is a Chinese super grandmaster who many people consider to be a primary contender for Magnus Carlsen’s world title. Ding won his first Chinese Chess Championship at the age of 16, making him the youngest to ever do so. In the 2017 and 2019 Chess World Cup, he became the first player in history to reach the finals twice in a row. The latter result means that Ding would play in the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which decided who gets a shot at the world title. Source: Chess.com

Ding Liren ❯❯

Benjamin Finegold

Benjamin Philip Finegold (born September 6, 1969) is an American chess grandmaster. He had previously been nicknamed the “strongest international master in the United States” until receiving his grandmaster title in 2009. Finegold became a USCF master at the age of 14, life master (USCF) at 15, senior master (USCF) at 16, international master (FIDE) at 20, and grandmaster (FIDE) at 40. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Finegold

Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian-born grandmaster living in France, a world-class player and the youngest player in the world rated over 2700. He is a two-time Iranian champion and the reigning European Fischer Random champion. As of March 1, 2021 Firouzja is the only teenager ranked in the top 15 (ranked #13 with a rating of 2759). Source: Chess.com

Alireza Firouzja ❯❯

Fiona Steil-Antoni

Fiona Steil-Antoni is a Luxembourgish chess player. She was awarded the title of Woman International Master by FIDE in 2010. Steil-Antoni won an individual gold medal at the Women’s Chess Olympiad in 2006. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Steil-Antoni

Sergey Karjakin

Sergey Karjakin is an elite chess player who became the youngest-ever GM at 12 years and seven months of age. Most notably, he pushed Magnus Carlsen—typically considered one of the two greatest chess players of all time (along with Garry Kasparov)—to tiebreakers in the 2016 World Chess Championship. Karjakin nearly won the most prestigious title in chess to go along with two world titles in rapid (2012) and blitz (2016) that came at the expense of the world champion. Source: Chess.com

Sergey Karjakin ❯❯

Tania Sachdev

Tania Sachdev (born 20 August 1986)[1] is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a two-time Indian women’s chess champion in 2006 and 2007, one-time Asian women’s chess champion in 2007 and three-time and current Commonwealth Women’s Chess Champion in 2016, 2018 and 2019. She is also a chess presenter and commentator. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tania_Sachdev

Srinath Narayanan

Srinath Narayanan (born 14 February 1994) is an Indian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in August 2017. Born in Chennai, he won the Asian Junior Chess Championship in 2012, 2013 and 2014. He is the coach of the Indian super-talent Nihal Sarin and he also coaches some of India’s rising stars. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinath_Narayanan

Veselin Topalov

GM Veselin Topalov is a Bulgarian super-grandmaster and was the FIDE world champion in 2005. He was the world number-one player from April 2006 through January 2007 and again from October 2008 until January 2010. According to 2700chess.com, he reached his peak rating of 2826 on August 24, 2015—the 5th highest rating of all time. Source: Chess.com

Veselin Topalov ❯❯

Wesley So

Wesley So is a Filipino-American super grandmaster who is among the world’s best chess players. He began as a chess prodigy who entered tournaments at nine years old. At 14, he became the ninth youngest GM in history. The next year, he became the youngest player to pass the 2600 rating threshold, breaking Magnus Carlsen’s record. Source: Chess.com

Wesley So ❯❯

John Bartholomew

John David Bartholomew (born September 5, 1986) is an American chess player, International Master, YouTuber and entrepreneur. He has a dedicated YouTube channel of instructional chess videos and was once described as “probably the most famous chess YouTuber of them all”. He is the co-founder with David Kramaley of Chessable, a chess education website dedicated to learning chess in a systematic manner. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bartholomew_(chess_player)

Wang Hao

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 an untitled player. He climbed the rankings from there and became a top-level player. Source: Chess.com

Wang Hao ❯❯

Hans Niemann

Hans Moke Niemann (born June 20, 2003) is an American chess Grandmaster and Twitch livestreamer. He was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE on January 22, 2021. On March 1, 2019, Niemann first entered the Top 100 Junior players list on position 88. As of November 2021 he is ranked 9th (Juniors ranking) and 124th (Open ranking). Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Niemann

Nikita Vitiugov

Nikita Vitiugov, a Russian grandmaster and author, is currently among the top-50 players in the world (as of February 2021). Vitiugov tied for first in the U18 European Championship in 2005, won the U18 Russian Championship in 2005, and tied for first in the U20 Russian Championship in 2006 and 2007. These tournaments paved the way for him to become a titled player when he became an international master in 2006 and a grandmaster in 2007. Source: Chess.com

Nikita Vitiugov ❯❯

Daniel Naroditsky

Daniel Naroditsky (born November 9, 1995 in San Mateo, California) is an American chess grandmaster. He has been a published chess author since age 14. He is active on YouTube and Twitch, where he has over 100,000 subscribers and followers respectively. He plays on Chess.com under the handle DanielNaroditsky, and on Lichess.org under the handle RebeccaHarris. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Naroditsky

Fabiano Caruana

The prodigy who broke the record held by GM Hikaru Nakamura for America’s youngest chess grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana, has climbed the mountain of chess and reached the summit. This grandmaster has had a ranking as high as number-two in the world and has won numerous tournaments in his career. In 2018 the American faced GM Magnus Carlsen at the World Chess Championship in London in 2018, losing in the tiebreak playoffs. Source: Chess.com

Fabiano Caruana ❯❯

Antonio Radić (agadmator)

Antonio Radić (born 16 June 1987) is a Croatian YouTuber and chess player who hosts a chess channel under the name agadmator’s Chess Channel. As of September 19th 2021, his channel is the second most popular chess channel on YouTube, surpassing 1,000,000 subscribers on 7 February 2021. The videos on Radić’s channel have over 500 million views in total. On his channel, Radić reviews both recent and historical chess games, often focusing on recent games during big tournaments such as Grand Chess Tour events and focusing on historical games at other times. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadmator

Leinier Dominguez Perez

Leinier Dominguez Perez is a Cuban-American grandmaster who has been a top-10 player in the world and usually sits in the top 15. Born in Havana in 1983, he earned his GM title in 2001, won his first of five Cuban Chess Championships in 2002, and reached a 2700 rating in 2008. Dominguez was also Cuban champion in 2003, 2006, 2012, and 2016. In 2008, he won the World Blitz Championship by half a point over GM Vassily Ivanchuk that solidified his status as a top player at any time control; Dominguez has also ranked as high as third on FIDE’s rapid rating list. Source: Chess.com

Leinier Dominguez Perez ❯❯

Simon Williams (GingerGM)

Simon Kim Williams (born 30 November 1979) is an English chess grandmaster and author who frequently uses the pseudonym “Ginger GM” on social media and commercial material. He became a Grandmaster in 2008, achieving the final norm at the Hastings International Chess Congress 2005/2006 and the 2500+ rating at Hastings 2007/2008. His peak rating so far is 2550, achieved in November 2009. In 2009, he organised the Big Slick International in Purley, London, which comprised an invitational GM tournament and FIDE Rated Open. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Williams_(chess_player)

Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk is a Russian super grandmaster who is consistently among the world’s best players. While he’s an elite professional chess player, Grischuk is well-known for being one of the top blitz players. He’s a three-time World Blitz Champion, making him only one of two players to have multiple world titles in blitz time controls. The other player is Magnus Carlsen (with four titles), who’s widely recognized as one of the best chess players of all time. Source: Chess.com

Alexander Grischuk ❯❯

Eric Rosen

Eric Rosen (born September 3, 1993) is an American chess player. He was awarded the FIDE Master title in 2011 and the International Master title in 2015. Rosen began playing chess as a child with his father and brother and became the United States Chess Federation (USCF) K12 national champion in 2011. While attending the University of Illinois, Rosen was on the chess team that secured a spot at the President’s Cup in 2013 and 2014. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Rosen_(chess_player)

Wei Yi

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 the eighth-youngest GM ever). And from January 2015 to the end of his candidacy as a junior (in late 2019), Wei ranked first or second on FIDE’s list of the top-100 juniors. Source: Chess.com

Wei Yi ❯❯

Nihal Sarin

Nihal Sarin (born 13 July 2004) is an Indian chess player. A chess prodigy, he achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14. He is also the fourth youngest player in history to cross the Elo rating mark of 2600, accomplishing this feat at age 14. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihal_Sarin

Jacob Aagaard

Jacob Aagaard (born 31 July 1973) is a Danish-born Scottish chess grandmaster and the 2007 British Chess Champion. He is Scotland’s third-highest rated player as of July 2021, with an Elo rating of 2477. His peak rating was 2542. In 2004, he took second place in the Scottish Chess Championship. In 2005, he took first place in the Scottish Championship but was not a British citizen, so the title went to Craig Pritchett. In 2012 he won the title; the first time he played and was eligible to win it. He is also a chess author and co-owner of Quality Chess, a chess publishing house. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Aagaard

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (also known as “MVL”) is a French super grandmaster who, since 2016, has spent plenty of time rated among the top five chess players in the world. His rating peaked at 2819 in August 2016, making him the seventh-highest rated player in history. Source: Chess.com

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ❯❯

Teimour Radjabov

Teimur Radjabov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan—the same city as former world champion Garry Kasparov—on March 12, 1987. Radjabov’s promising youth career translated into runs at the FIDE world championship in his teens and the reunified championship in the 2010’s. Source: Chess.com

Teimour Radjabov ❯❯

Alexey Dreev

Alexey Sergeyevich Dreev (Russian: Алексей Сергеевич Дреев, also transliterated as Aleksey or Alexei; born 30 January 1969) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Dreev

Vidit Gujrathi

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess player. He attained the title of Grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. As of August 2021, he is the second highest rated player in India (behind Viswanathan Anand) , and is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidit_Gujrathi

Levy Rozman (GothamChess)

Rozman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 5, 1995, and lived in both New York and New Jersey growing up. He began playing chess at the age of 6 as an extracurricular activity and entered his first tournament at the age of 7. Rozman attained the titles of National Master in 2011 through the US Chess Federation, FIDE Master in 2016, and International Master in 2018. Rozman started as a scholastic chess coach in 2014. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levy_Rozman