The Top Chess Players in the World - Page 5

GM Hou Yifan 2633 | #101

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 Yuriy Kryvoruchko 2633 | #101

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 Etienne Bacrot 2633 | #101

Etienne Bacrot is a French grandmaster. He won his first French championship at 16 years of age, which is the youngest in history. That was the first of five consecutive national titles, and Bacrot has accumulated eight in total—more than any other player. He made a name for himself in chess as...

GM Dmitrij Kollars 2633 | #101

GM Dmitrij Kollars is a German chess grandmaster who earned that title in 2017 at the age of 17 years old. In 2021 he tied for first place at the Sunway Sitges Open tournament. Kollars is a regular in Chess.com events, including Titled Tuesday which he won on January 3, 2023. He also reached Division...

GM Anton Korobov 2631 | #105

Anton Korobov is a Ukrainian grandmaster and four-time national champion. He won individual gold at the 43rd Chess Olympiad as the best player on the reserve board, won the 2013 European Blitz Chess Championship, and is an exceptional rapid player—ranked fifth in the world (as of February 2021)....

GM Ma Qun 2630 | #106

Bio coming soon.

GM Arkadij Naiditsch 2629 | #107

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 Konstantin Landa

Bio coming soon

GM Saleh Salem 2627 | #108

Salem Saleh is a grandmaster from the United Arab Emirates. He has four national Emirati Chess Championships, three international Arab Chess Championships, and two Arab Individual Blitz Chess Championships. In 2015, he won the Asian Chess and Asian Blitz Championships. He has currently matched his peak...

GM Wang Yue 2627 | #108

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 Luka Lenic 2626 | #110

Luka Lenic is a Slovenian grandmaster.

GM Gabriel Sargissian 2626 | #110

Gabriel Sargissian is an Armenian grandmaster who won three Olympic gold medals with his national team.  As a young player, Sargissian won the Under-14 World Youth Chess Championship in 1996. He won bronze at the European Junior Chess Championship in 1998 and the individual European championship...

GM Andrei Volokitin 2626 | #110

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 Ioannis Papaioannou 2626 | #110

GM Rasmus Svane 2626 | #110

Rasmus Svane is a German chess grandmaster who qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup.

GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus 2626 | #110

Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus is a Turkish chess grandmaster, one of the youngest grandmasters ever, and the youngest player ever to reach a 2600 FIDE rating. Erdogmus won the U-8 European Chess Championship in 2019, a year before he had to stop playing over-the-board chess due to the COVID-19 pandemic....

GM Maxim Matlakov 2625 | #116

Maxim Matlakov is a Russian grandmaster and currently one of the top-15 players in his country (as of February 2021). He also acted as GM Peter Svidler's second during the Candidates Tournaments of 2013, 2014, and 2016. Matlakov won the U18 section of the World Youth Chess Championship in 2009. That...

GM Li Chao 2624 | #117

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 Ruslan Ponomariov 2622 | #118

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 Alexandr Predke 2622 | #118

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 Abhimanyu Puranik 2622 | #118

GM Abhimanyu Puranik is an Indian grandmaster who qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup. The player's full name is Abhimanyu Puranik and they confirmed to Chess.com that they preferred to be called by their first name, Abhimanyu.

GM Maxime Lagarde 2621 | #121

Maxime Lagarde is a French grandmaster and one of the top players in France. As of February 2021, he's the third strongest player in his country, behind only GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Etienne Bacrot. Lagarde earned his international master title in 2011 and became a grandmaster in 2013. He won...

GM Alexei Shirov 2620 | #122

Alexei Shirov is a Latvian grandmaster who plays for Spain. In 1994 he was the number-two player in the world. Shirov defeated GM Vladimir Kramnik in a match in 1998 to become the challenger to GM Garry Kasparov for the classical world championship, but this match never took place. Shirov has participated...

GM Eltaj Safarli 2620 | #122

GM Eltaj Safarli is an Azerbaijani grandmaster who qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup.

GM Jaime Santos Latasa 2620 | #122

GM Jaime Santos Latasa is a Spanish grandmaster who earned the title in 2018. His peak in the world rankings as of February 2024 is 59th, set in September 2022.