GM David Navara 2671 | #51
David Navara may be the strongest Czech player ever. Not only is he the country’s highest rated player, but he has won nine national titles, which is more than anyone in the tournament’s 114-year history. Navara became an IM at 14 and a GM at 16. At Wijk aan Zee in 2007, he beat Magnus Carlsen...
GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov 2670 | #52
Shamsiddin Vokhidov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. He won the Under-14 World Youth Championship in 2015. In 2018, Vokhidov scored 8.5/15 at the World Rapid Championship, including a victory over GM Magnus Carlsen in round two. Vokhidov played the reserve board for Uzbekistan at the 2022 Chess Olympiad,...
GM Nikita Vitiugov 2670 | #52
Nikita Vitiugov is a Russian-born grandmaster who plays under the English flag. He was the Russian chess champion in 2021 and coach of GM Ian Nepomniachtchi at two FIDE World Championship matches. He is a two-time winner of World Team Chess Championships and a three-time European Club Cup winner. He...
GM Samuel Shankland 2670 | #52
Samuel L. “Sam” Shankland was born October 1, 1991 in Berkeley, California. He has represented the country of his birth his entire chess career, a relative rarity for American grandmasters of the past 40 years. Making IM and GM 2016 Chess Olympiad 2018 U.S. Championship Other Tournaments Present...
GM Amin Tabatabaei 2668 | #55
Amin Tabatabaei is an Iranian grandmaster and the winner of the 2019 Biel Master Open tournament. His win came by half a point over a group of seven players in second place, including GMs Jeffery Xiong and Gata Kamsky. Earlier in his career, Tabatabaei won silver at the 2014 World U14 Championship....
GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen 2668 | #55
Thai Dai Van Nguyen is a Czech chess grandmaster who qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup.
GM Ivan Saric 2667 | #57
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 Peter Leko 2666 | #58
GM Peter Leko is a Hungarian super grandmaster who played for the classical world championship in 2004, losing to GM Vladimir Kramnik (under the terms of the match, despite drawing it by score). Born in 1979, he was already an IM by 1992. GM came two years later, making him the youngest ever. Early...
GM Michael Adams 2664 | #59
Michael “Mickey” Adams is a British chess grandmaster, one of the United Kingdom's and England’s greatest-ever players, with eight national championships. Per his website, he has finished first or tied for first in at least 60 events in his chess career. Early Life And Career Early...
GM David Anton Guijarro 2664 | #59
David Anton Guijarro is a grandmaster and one of the best players in Spain. In March 2020 he crossed the 2700-rating mark, a feat that only a few players ever achieve. Anton Guijarro won the bronze medal at the 2012 U-16 European Championship and silver at the 2013 U-18 World Championship. He has won...
GM Frederik Svane 2664 | #59
GM Frederik Svane is a German grandmaster who qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup. He is the brother of GM Rasmus Svane.
GM Kirill Alekseenko 2661 | #63
Kirill Alekseenko is a young Russian GM who earned his wild card to the 2020 FIDE Candidates Tournament after taking third place at FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in 2019. In 2023, he changed federations to Austria. Early Life And Career Adult Career The Road to Candidates Present And Future Early...
GM Grigoriy Oparin 2660 | #65
Grigoriy Oparin is a Russian chess player who earned his grandmaster title in 2013. He was Russia's 2014 junior champion. Oparin nearly qualified for the 2022 Candidates Tournament by tying GM Fabiano Caruana for second place at the 2021 Riga Grand Swiss. However, he finished in third place because...
GM Shant Sargsyan 2660 | #65
Shant Sargsyan is an Armenian grandmaster and the 2018 World U16 Champion. The following year, he won silver in both the World U18 Championship and the World Junior Championship. Sargsyan is ranked within the top-12 players in Armenia (12th) and juniors in the world (11th) (as of April 2021).
GM Nodirbek Yakubboev 2659 | #67
Nodirbek Yakubboev is an Uzbek grandmaster and three-time national champion. His Uzbekistani Chess Championships came in 2016, 2018, and 2020. At the 2018 World Youth Chess Olympiad, Yakubboev won gold with Uzbekistan and took individual gold as well for his performance on the second board. In...
GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2658 | #68
GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek is a super GM and six-time Polish chess champion (2005, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2024). He worked closely with GM Viswanathan Anand during Anand’s world championship matches. Wojtaszek is married to fellow chess player IM Alina Kashlinskaya. Early Career Polish Champion...
GM Boris Gelfand 2657 | #69
Soviet-born Israeli GM Boris Gelfand is a longtime elite chess player. His staying power as a top player is legendary, as he has spent most of his life ranked among the top-20 players in the world. He was ranked in the top 30 for nearly 27 years (January 1990 to October 2017). Gelfand nearly defeated...
GM Volodar Murzin 2657 | #69
Volodar Murzin is a Russian chess grandmaster who qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup. He is from Nizhny Tagil, a town 125 km north of Yekaterinburg, Russia but now lives in Khimki, in the Moscow region. He is the 2018 European U12 champion. In December 2024, Murzin won the World Rapid Championship...
GM Alexander Morozevich 2656 | #71
GM Alexander Morozevich is one of only a few chess players who can claim to have been the world’s number-two player. In July 2008, his rating of 2788 put him second behind only GM Viswanathan Anand and also made Morozevich Russia’s number-one player. Twice, in 1998 and 2007, he won...
GM Rauf Mamedov 2656 | #71
Rauf Mamedov is an Azerbaijani grandmaster. Early in his career, Mamedov's most notable success came when he won first place in the U16 European Youth Championship in 1999. Five years later, he became a grandmaster in 2004 and won the Dubai Open. Mamedov went on to win the Azerbaijani Chess Championship...
GM Pavel Eljanov 2656 | #71
Pavel Eljanov is a Ukrainian grandmaster who has served as a second (assistant) for many elite players, including GMs Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand, and Mariya Muzychuk. Early in his career, Eljanov was on the team that won the U16 Chess Olympiad in 1999. Years later, he won two team...
GM Gawain Jones 2654 | #74
Gawain Jones is an English grandmaster and two-time British Chess Champion. He had an illustrious youth career. At nine years old, he became the youngest player ever at the time to defeat an international master in an official tournament game. A few years later, at the age of 12, he won the British...