We have all had the guilty pleasure of enjoying some drama around us, but when it comes to the sports and entertainment industry, it does blow us all up with the varying degrees and intensity of the information coming from all the sources around the world that overwhelm our thinking capacity to differentiate between the right and the wrong.

One such case has been recently blowing up the chess industry involving the World Champion himself! This article covers all the developments in the Carlsen-Hans controversy so far.

It all began with a cryptic tweet from Magnus sharing a video of Jose Mourinho, as he announced his withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup. This controversial tweet raised the eyebrows of many as Magnus insinuated the US Grandmaster of cheating in the game he won against Magnus in the tournament. While many chess players and who’s who from the industry had their viewpoints on this, GM Hikaru Nakamura and the famous online chess platform Chess.com were quick to prey on Hans Niemann with their allegations of the latter cheating at various events and platforms.

Source: Magnus Carlsen Twitter

Hikaru has since then been insinuating that the young GM had used unfair means and post-Hans’ interview, he made remarks on some of the statements that Hans gave on different variations he played in his game against Magnus with black pieces! Hikaru pointed out on what he thought were a few inconsistencies.

 YouTube Videos posted by Hikaru on his channel

Hans felt under attack by many of the top players and the internet weighed in as well, with divided opinions and crazy conspiracy theories!

However, Hans came out and addressed these insinuations in a post-game interview with Alejandro Ramirez in St.Louis. In his interview, he admitted to cheating in online games at the age of 12 and 16 respectively, and cleared the air of not having cheated in any of the OTB chess tournaments.

The Sinquefield organizers responded with additional fair-play measures including a broadcast delay of 15 minutes, and the organizers came out with a statement by the chief arbiter ruling out any incidents of fair-play violation. However, the whole controversy was sufficient to even attract the attention of Elon Musk!

Source: Elon Musk Twitter

Following this event, Chess.com removed Hans Niemann from Chess.com Global Chess Championship as well which infuriated Hans as he called this move “ridiculous” and under the influence of top players like Magnus and Hikaru.

However, this was just the beginning of a #ChessDrama. Two weeks after this incident, Magnus and Niemann faced each other in the Julius Baer Generations Cup. To everyone’s shock, Magnus resigned on the second move against Hans and stirred up the controversy. This also raised certain criticisms of the world champion for not providing proof or clear statements for his recent actions. This also led FIDE to break its silence on the ongoing polemic as it released an official statement on social media.

Days after this, Magnus put up a tweet with his statements and beliefs regarding the statements he made against Niemann, and prompted FIDE to initiate a probe on the same. FIDE has chaired a three-member panel to investigate this.

                    Source: FIDE Twitter

Online chess platform Chess.com, on 4^th October, released its detailed 72-page report on Hans Niemann and the events he has been suspected of cheating on the online platform. This report was covered in the notable “The Wall Street Journal”. It mentioned Hans’s performance being “statistically extraordinary” as his rating shot up in the most fast-pacing manner.

           Source: The Wall Street Journal

With all these speculations, reports, pieces of evidence, and theories surfacing on the internet, it is to be noted that this case has led to Hans losing out on event invitations, cancelation of major upcoming events and games involving Hans, and him losing opportunities to get jobs at reputed places which led young Hans Niemann of filing a defamation lawsuit worth 400 MILLION USD against Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Chess.com, Daniel Rensch and Play Magnus Group.

Source: Hans Niemann Twitter

While there is a lot more in store for this case with investigations, reports, lawyers and much more to get involved, there are chances of things taking up an ugly turn and rollercoaster rides!

By: Vidhi Karelia

 

 

 

Exercise! We hear and read about the importance of including physical activities in our routine almost every day these days. And rightfully so! With the tendency to move towards a sedentary lifestyle in modern times, frequent reminders and prompts to exercise physically have become more important than ever. ‘Use it or lose it!’ goes the popular saying, implying that if we don’t use our muscles and the various parts of our body, we’ll end up losing them. But what about the mental component?

‘The use it or lose it’ principle works the same way for mental activities as well. In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology for every physical and mental need, the game of chess is the perfect solution to train, and thereby retain one’s cognitive functions. While mainstream sports like football and swimming offer a sense of fun and also help train in overall fitness by keeping the entire body active. Chess does the exact thing with our brains. It exercises every neuron as one game of chess has the ability to burn around 580 calories in the body!

                     Credits: Max Pixel

Researchers have found that chess trains numerous parts of the brain and helps with enhancing its cognitive functioning. In practical terms, Chess helps train the following:

(i) Concentration

A game of chess varies in the respect that it can last between a minute to six hours depending on the format of the play. However, the common factor across all the formats is that it requires intense focus. A minor lapse of concentration can undo hours of hard work. It is also this requirement of focus that allows the player to enter into a state of ‘flow’. It has also been observed that when students get back to their academic studies after playing or practicing chess, they are able to focus better and their time to study and understand concepts is lesser than their non-chess-playing friends

                       By Bruce Mars

(ii) Improves memory

Playing chess involves many different types of memory. On one hand, there is the rote memory function, just to learn and memorize the different chess moves and openings. However, it isn’t restricted to exercising just one type of memory. It also involves other types of memory like pattern recognition memory. Studies have shown how chess masters hold together thousands of little nuggets of pattern-like memory, similar to how we learn and remember languages. It involves using the working memory when we have to visualize and calculate different moves. It also involves long-term memory, in being able to store different strategic patterns and being able to recall and reciprocate them on board under time pressure. To put it in simple terms, Chess trains memory.

It has also been observed that the game of chess helps in preventing/delaying the onset of medical conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s in individuals.

                      Credits: Max Pixel

(iii) Develops empathy

Chess is not just about learning to make moves from our perspective. It also involves anticipating what our opponent would play and using that ability to stay one step ahead. The better someone is at anticipating the opponent’s moves, the better chess player they become, which in turn translates to developing empathy in the outside world as a chess player can effectively anticipate the emotions of other individuals and understand their perspective.

                Source: Wikimedia Commons

(iv) Boosts creativity

‘Imagination is greater than knowledge is a famous quote by Albert Einstein. A chess player knows this by instinct, as no amount of pre-existing knowledge can overcome the brilliant creativity shown during a chess game. Chess doesn’t just require recalling pre-existing knowledge and reproducing it, it also involves making good use of the combination of pre-existing knowledge to create something new. Research performed on school children has proven that students exposed to chess training came up with more innovative and newer solutions to different problems compared to the group who did not train in chess.

While the game is all about infinite possibilities of moves, with training and practice one learns to neuronal network connections in a way that they can develop they come up with creative combinations of moves.

                Twentyfour students, Flickr

(v) Improves strategic planning

 It has been widely known that chess as a game is famous for its anticipatory and far-sightedness approach. The basic aim that a chess coach keeps in mind while teaching is to develop long-term thinking capacity in the student. And this habit is inculcated when one starts to plan various strategies in their game, whether it is to plan for taking a piece or planning to break out into a better position or to plan and execute a strategical checkmate.

               Credits: Max Pixel

(vi) Leadership Skills

In the recently concluded Global Chess Festival in Budapest, an Indian chess enthusiast Ashwin Subramanian presented his study on how chess as a game builds cognitive skills in an individual and also makes one a better leader or a suitable candidate for management roles in the workplace. While his study was backed by various observations and research on various chess players and grandmasters, a live representation of this was seen in the 44^th Chess Olympiad held at Chennai where nearly 400 volunteers were recruited by the government and Indian chess association for the management and conduct of the event that was organized in less than 4months! It was notable that more than 80% of these volunteers were chess players and/or chess coaches and they were able to execute their given roles with minimum training with the most efficiency

         Picture Courtesy: Stev Bonhage

(vii) Patience
When a parent enrolls their child in a chess class, their primary goal is to make the child patient through the game and control the impulsive behavior of the child. The basic skillset required to play a game of chess includes patience. Only with patience can one start to develop strategic planning and think for longer times and moves. This skill takes time to develop but is one of the major giveaways and lessons learned from the game that goes on a long way in one’s life.

(viii) Sportsman spirit and Ethics
Just like any other sport, even chess helps build the spirit of sportsmanship as players begin and end by shaking their hands. In elite chess events, it is a very common site that the opponents after finishing their games discuss with each other the potential moves and threats and give each other better ideas that could’ve been a part of the game.

By: Vidhi Karelia

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

In early 2020, the entire world entered a stage of latency with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. It went on to become a full-fledged pandemic, and people were forced to stay indoors with restricted access. A lot of industries and interests were hit worldwide with everything shifting online.

While the sports industry came to a standstill, the chess world was also similarly rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Offline, over-the-board tournaments stopped completely to an extent that, even the Candidates’ tournament had to be paused, with the tournament poised halfway. However, chess’s USP has been its flexibility and the ability to adapt. The game has survived for several centuries and remains relevant to this day by being moldable according to the change in time and trends, whilst maintaining the integrity of the game by not wavering from its core rules. As soon as the world came to a standstill, chess immediately moved online.

With rising mental tension and restrictions on outdoor activities, people packed inside their four-walled started looking out for various ways to indulge themselves and their kids in mindful practices. This led to an exponential growth in the activity levels of chess-playing servers like chess.com and lichess.org. However, it was not restricted just to the playing platforms. Chess e-learning platform Chessable reported a quadruple increase in its user base from 2020 to 2021. A lot of chess enthusiasts who had lost touch returned to Chess.

Cover of Chess Life magazine during a pandemic

Let us have a look at the key events that got chess to where it stands post-pandemic:

1)The growth of the global chess streaming community

A few years before the pandemic, Twitch and Chesscom entered into a partnership.  It had a modest start with elite players like Hikaru Nakamura streaming over it with around 1000 watching. However, with the pandemic, this viewership increased by almost 10-fold and he hit a following of more than 1 million subscribers on both Twitch and YouTube! Globally, Hikaru, Levy Rozman (Gothamchess), and The Botez sisters were some of the popular content creators who contributed to taking the game to the masses and making it accessible and enjoyable to a whole new set of audiences by creating chess content regularly in a fun and educational way.

Hikaru and Botez Sisters in a fun chess stream

This culminated in the PogChamps event, which involved collaboration between the top chess content creators in the world and the most popular content creators globally. Top chess streamers and titled players went on to coach some of the famous social media content creators that played against each other. In fact, by the third season, the prize pool increased to $100,000 as Chess.com noted how previous PogChamps tournaments, as well as other external events such as the success of The Queen’s Gambit, had led to a dramatic increase in the number of site registrations and daily games played, allowing them to gain several sponsorships, which in turn led to an increased prize pool.

 

2) The growth of the Indian streaming community

IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal were actively involved in popularizing the game of chess in India pre-pandemic by covering all important national and international chess events by being on-site and publishing articles and stories from in and behind the scenes through Chessbase India. However, the pandemic acted like a blessing in disguise for their platform as their viewership and work reached a larger base with their YouTube channel hitting 1M subscribers recently! Sagar Shah started by streaming “Improving Chess” on his channel and with the involvement of star comedians like Samay Raina, Vaibhav Sethia, Biswa Kalyan Rath, the game of chess earned massive reach from a plethora of Indian audiences. It all began with a fun Twitter exchange between GM Vidit Gujrathi and comedians that brought the who’s who of content creation and the comedy industry to the game of chess.

The tweet that ignited the chess fire

 

Samay Raina particularly played a huge role in popularizing the game and bringing more celebrities on board and also helped a lot of elite chess players of India in getting into YouTube streaming.

This led to the creation of an online chess tournament series known as Comedians On Board, in which famous comedians and stars of the country were trained by various Indian Grandmasters. A lot of online fund-raiser chess streams were also organized during the pandemic.

 

         

 

3)The Queen’s Gambit and Online Olympiad

With people and work being confined to laptops and ­­­mobile screens during the pandemic, online subscription services came to the rescue for entertainment and chill. With the release of “The Queen’s Gambit”, a drama series on Netflix, a wide range of audiences from all over the globe was attracted to the game of chess which in turn increased the reach of various chess streams and online tournaments being organized.

While other sports events struggled to function at global levels, Chess emerged as a phoenix with the concept of the Online Chess Olympiad, making sure that an elite-level, world-class event was still organized despite all odds. In India, the concurrent viewership reached 70,000 on YouTube streams and people from all walks of life were glued to their screens and watching matches as if it was cricket or football.

The winners of first Online Olympiad

4)The Magnus Carlsen Effect

Magnus proved to be a champion both on and off the board, by launching various chess events and initiatives under his banner. He began in 2020 with a series of Magnus Carlsen Invitational tournaments online with top world chess players being a part of it and it received massive media attention.

 

Play Magnus Group then came up with the idea of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour which is a series of chess tournaments throughout the year with the semi-finalists competing for the title at the end. One of the most remarkable initiatives is that of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour with the involvement of Judit Polgar and Kramnik along with top juniors of the world. This tournament does not only focus on junior chess talent but also promotes gender equality by giving equal opportunities to junior players across the globe of both genders.

 

Boss Ladies of chess

Chess as a sport has been experiencing a boom in recent times. With the advent of the Queen’s Gambit and popular chess players streaming, the sport has witnessed an exponential rise, in terms of quantity as well as quality. However, despite the increase in the number of chess players overall, women’s participation remains much lower in number, leading to a massive participation gap. In this article, we will look at ten of the best Women chess players of all time, and inspire more girls to pick up the sport!

1. JUDIT POLGAR (2675)

This is the name every chess follower and player knows and never raises a question mark when she makes it to the top of the list of best chess players the world has ever had. She has been the only female chess player to have crossed 2700elo and has defeated 11 (out of a total of 20) World Champions so far. She became a Grandmaster at the age of 15, beating the record of Bobby Fischer to become the youngest-ever grandmaster in chess. She has been a chess prodigy for not just being a top female player in chess history, but also for always choosing to play open events and being part of the Men’s team in European championships and Olympiads along with being a contender for the World Chess Championship in 2005. Judit is also a Guinness record holder for leading the world rankings for more than 25years.

2. VERA MENCHIK (2350)

Vera Menchik was not just the first but also the longest-reigning Women’s World Chess Champion ever. Menchik was believed to be the strongest female chess player in the world before the Second World War. ‘Vera Menchik Club’ includes a list of players who lost against her, members of this club have been notable players like World Champion Max Euwe, Mir Sultan Khan, George Thomas, Samuel Reshevsky Friedrich Sämisch. She was the first ever female to have been inducted into the World Chess Hall Of Fame. In her honor, FIDE has named the gold-winning Women Chess Olympiad team trophy as “Vera Menchik Trophy”

3. HOU YIFAN (2650)

Hou Yifan from China is the World’s No 1 women’s chess player. A prodigy since birth, she broke the record of Judit Polgar and went on to become the youngest female Grandmaster at the age of 14 and is also the youngest Women’s World Chess Champion. Her first international win was marked in 2003 by winning in World Youth Championship in U-10 girls. At a very young age and with a shorter active career than her counterparts (since she is semi-retired), she has already been the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix for consecutive three years.

4. MAIA CHIBURDANIDZE (2500)

Hailing from Georgia, she was the second woman to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. She played in 15 Olympiads until 2008 and was a part of the gold-winning team nine times, silver thrice and bronze once. She defeated her predecessor Gaprindashvili in 1978 to become the Women’s World Champion and defended her title for fourteen years. Notably, she was the first female player ever who paved her way to the list of FIDE Top 50-rated players.

5. NONA GAPRINDASHVILI (2268)

Nona remains to be one of the most historic female chess players in the world as she was the pioneer and the first ever female to be awarded the title of Grandmaster. Gaprindashvili has carved a legacy of her own by being The Women’s World Champion for 16years (2^nd longest), the Soviet Women’s World Championship, and European Women’s Senior Championship. She is the only women’s world champion to have also successfully won and defended her title of Women’s World Senior Championship. Since 1997, Gaprindashvili Cup is awarded in the Chess Olympiad to the nation with the best overall performance in the open and women’s sections. She has played in 12 Olympiads and her team has won 11 gold medals and one silver. She has won eight individual golds as well.

6. XIE JUN (2574)

Xie was the first woman and overall second player from China to become a Grandmaster and the first ever from Asia to become a Women’s World Champion by breaking the four-decade-long supremacy of the Soviet Union by defeating Chiburdanidze. She is among the very few women players to have regained her World Championship title back after losing it.

7. ANNA MUZYCHUK (2526)

Anna Muzychuk is a household name in Ukraine for being a chess prodigy. She’s the only player besides Magnus Carlsen and Susan Polgar to have won World Rapid and World Blitz championships in the same year. She has won two Women’s World Blitz Chess Championships and one Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship. She won European Youth Chess Championship six times, she has also been a World Youth Champion and World Junior Champion in her age category. Soon after she crossed

2600, she also reached her career best and was the second-highest woman in ratings behind Judit for short time. She has been part of the Ukraine Team in four Olympiads and medalled in all of them, two bronze, and one silver, and then went on to win a gold in the latest 44^th Olympiad.

8. PIA CRAMLING (2468)

This 59-year young lady happens to be the only women chess grandmaster in any Scandinavian country. While almost all of her female counterparts are no more active in the chess scene, Pia chooses to still show up over the board and play exceptionally. Her game just like herself has aged like fine wine. In 1984, she was ranked as the no.1 female chess player in the world. Her accolades include being a two-time winner at the Women’s European Individual Chess Championship and six team golds in European Club Cup for Women. The most notable part about Pia is that she debuted in the Chess Olympiad 44years back and began playing for Sweden in the open section and later on in Sweden Women’s Team. Including the latest Olympiad results, Pia has won three individual gold medals in the Olympiad and a total of nine individual medals so far.

9. ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK (2521)

While Kosteniuk is an exceptional chess player, she is also a chess streamer, author, model, and chess educator. She’s the current Women’s World Rapid Chess Champion. She has been Women’s World Chess Champion in 2008 by beating prodigy Hou Yifan. She was crowned several times as Russian Women’s Chess Champion, and European Women’s Chess Champion and has also won European Youth and World Youth Chess Championship in her age categories as a child. She has also been the first woman to have won the men’s Swiss Chess Championship in 2013. Kosteniuk has been part of the gold-winning Russian Women’s teams in three Chess Olympiads, five European Team Chess Championships, and the Women’s Team Chess Championship once.

10. KONERU HUMPY (2574)

An Indian chess prodigy, Humpy was the first woman in India to become a grandmaster at the tender age of 15! Humpy has made two World Youth Chess Championship titles and one World Girls Junior Championship title to her name from her childhood. Humpy has been a perennial first runner-up in FIDE Women’s Grand Prix till 2021. She was part of the Gold medal-winning team at the Online FIDE Chess Olympiad, in 2020 and the bronze-winning team in the 2021 edition. In the 2022 Chess Olympiad at Chennai, she was part of the Indian Women’s A team winning bronze. Humpy has proved herself across all formats by being the Women’s Rapid World Champion in 2019. She has also been a British Women’s Champion, Asian Individual Women’s Champion, and Indian Women’s Champion.

The title of Grandmaster is the highest achievement in the CHESS. Every chess player wishes for this position. Nowadays, chess becoming younger and younger. We can see in some previous years most of the grandmaster’s titles were achieved at twelve, thirteen, and fourteen years of age. Here, we are going to learn about some of the youngest Chess Grandmasters in the whole world.

1.     Abhimanyu Mishra

The youngest Grandmaster in history, born in America on 5th February 2009. He became chess grandmaster on 30 June 2021 at the age of 12 years. At that time, he broke the record of Ukrainian chess player Sergey Karjakin. Mishra got popular on the internet in 2016 when he won the Chesskid Online National Invitational Championship(CONIC) in the under-eight section of the tournament. He won CONIC at the age of 10 years, this was the beginning of a record-breaking journey and finally, in 2021, it reached the title of GrandMaster.

2.     Sergey Karjakin

Sergey had the title of Youngest Grandmaster before Abhimanyu. Sergey was born in Ukraine on 12 January 1990. He achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 12 in 2003. Before the achievement of Grandmaster, he won International Master in 2001 and European Chess Championship in 1999. He also scored 18th position in the world ranking in the field of chess.

3.     Gukesh D (Karlsruhe)

Gukesh Karlsruhe, won the crown of Chess Grandmaster at the age of 12 years 7 months but was only 17 days older than Sergey. His birth place is Chennai and was born on 29 May 2006. He scored his title of Chess Grandmaster in 2018 at the Capable la Grande open. In the world ranking list of FIDE, he is in the 64th position.

4.     Javokhir Sindarov

He was born in Uzbekistan on 8th December 2005. In October 2018, when he was 12 years 10 months old scored the title of Chess Grandmaster. In 2017, he was also awarded the title of International Master. In 2021, he qualified for Chess World Cup. He scored 2500 ELO rate in 2018 when he participated in World Junior Chess Championship. Sindarov’s position on the FIDE ranking list is 166 with a standard rating of 2616.

5.     Rameshbabu Praggnanandha

The guy who become Chess Grandmaster in 2018 when he was 12 years. This Indian chess player was born on 10 August 2005. It is very exciting to know that he earned the title of  FIDE Master at just the age of 7. Also, on Feb 22, 2022, he defeated the current chess world champion and become the youngest player to build a record. Moreover, on May 20, 2022, he again defeated the Chess World Champion, Magnus Carlsen for the second time at Chessable Online Tournament.

6.      Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Nodirbek Abdusattorov is in the sixth position on the list of youngest Chess Grandmasters. He won the Grandmaster’s title at the age of 13 years in April 2018. He was born in Uzbekistan on 18 September 2004. He also won the World  Youth Chess Championship in Slovenia in 2011. His current Fide ranking is 85 with a 2661 standard rating.

7.     Parimarjan Negi

An Indian chess player, who wore the crown of Grandmaster at the age of 13 years in 2006. He was born in India on 9th February 1993. The government of India awarded him with Arjun Award. Moreover, he also became the winner of the Philadelphia International Open Tournament in 2008. His FIDE ranking is 135 with a 2639 std rating. In 2017, he declare retirement from chess.

8.     Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen is the most famous and rated chess player in the world. He is the current Chess Champion. He earned the title of Grandmaster when he was 13 years old in 2004. He is famous for the nickname “ Mozart of Chess”. Magnus was born in Norway in 1990. In the FIDE ranking list, he is in the top position with the highest std rating 2864. He is the World Chess Champion since 2013.

9.     Wei Yi

Wei is the 9th youngest chess grandmaster. He was born in china on 2nd June 1999. He scored the position of grandmaster in 2013. He is the only youngest chess player with a rating of more than 2700 at the age of 15. He qualified for the FIDE world cup in 2018. He is at 22nd position on the FIDE ranking list with a 2727 std rating.

10. Raunak Sadhwani

He was born in India on 22 December 2005 and become a grandmaster at the age of 13 in 2018.  In 2015, he become the Champion of the U-10 Commonwealth held in New Delhi.  He was the 9th youngest Grandmaster. His FIDE rating is 2619 and is at 158th position on the list of top chess players.

 

 

Chess is a world-famous indoor game. Chess is a very ancient game. According to history, it was invented in India. We all know that chess is a game of mind and requires a high level of IQ and a calm mindset. It is very easy to learn how to play chess, but perfection needs years. There are very few people in the world who can play it in a very efficient manner. Let’s have a look at the below list of the 10 strongest players of chess in 2022.

1.    Magnus Carlsen

The best and strongest Chess player in the world. He is at the top of the position in Fide Ranking with a standard rating of 2864.

Full Name = Sven Magnus Oen Carlsen

DOB = 30th November 1990

Birth Place = Tonsberg

Nationality = Norway

He started his journey in chess at the age of 5. In the beginning, he was not so interested in chess because he liked solving jig-show puzzles and some other tricky games. When he was just 2 years old, he was more advanced in calculation and learning data than contemporary 14-15 old boys. After that at the age of 5, he started chess with the guidance of his father. In chess, his strong data learning and calculation power helped him to manage steps. Moving forward with practice, he became the Youngest Chess Grandmaster at the age of 13 in 2004. He is the world’s strongest chess player since 2011. He scored 1st place in 2011 and has still not been defeated by any other player. He is 31 years old and continues playing chess with a winning trend.

2.    Ding Liren

The second strongest chess player in the world according to Fide Rating.  After Carlsen, Ding has the highest standard rating, 2806, giving him 2nd rank in the chess world.

Full Name = Ding Liren

DOB = 24th October 1992

Birth Place = Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Nationality = China

 

He started his chess journey at the age of 4 when his mother took him to a famous chess club in Wenzhou. Where he got guidance and mentorship from the best chess player of all time or the coach of the famous Zhu Chen, world women’s chess champion. He started his journey to winning in 2003 when he participated in the U-10 and U-12 championships. At the age of 16, he became a World-class chess player with the title of Grandmaster in 2009.

3.    Alirez Firouja 

The 3rd strongest chess player in the world has a standard rating of 2793 by FIDE. This French Chess player won the title of Grandmaster of Chess in 2018.

Full Name = Alireza Firouja

DOB = 18th June 2003

Birth Place = Babol(Iran)

Nationality = France ( since 2021)

 

 

Firouja started his chess journey when he was 8. After a few years, he became well known all over the world. In 2015, he was the Gold Medalist in the U-12 Asian Youth Chess Championship. Moreover, in 2016, he won the title of International Master. Finally, he secured the title of Chess Grandmaster at 15 in 2018.

 

 

4.    Fabiano Caruana

On the list of Fide Rating, Fabiano is the 4th strongest Chess player on earth with a standard rating of 2783.

Full Name = Fabiano Luigi Caruana

DOB = 30th June 1992

Birth Place = Miami, Florida

Nationality = USA

 

He had a deep interest in chess and started playing chess at the age of 5, in New York. He took his primary guidance from Bruce Pandolfini. In 2002, he became FIDE Master. After that with continued progress in FIDE Rating, he won the title of International Master in 2006.

One year later, he again became the topic of headlines when he achieved the highest achievement of his life, the title of Chess Grandmaster at the age of 14 years.

5.    Levon Aronian

The American-Armenia chess player is at 5th position on the list of World Strongest Chess players. He has scored a 2775 Standard rating by FIDE.

Full Name = Levon Grigori Aronian

DOB = 6th October 1982

Birth Place = Yerevan (Armenia)

Nationality = USA

 

He started his chess career when he was 9 years old in 1991. He got coaching from his sister and GM Melikset. He had a deep interest in chess and became a successful player very soon. His first win was the U=12 Championship, which was held in 1994. He won the title of Grandmaster in 2000.

 

 

6.    Wesley So

Wesley is the 6th strongest chess player in the world. In the FIDE rating, he scored a standard rating of 2774.

Full Name = Wesley Barbossa So

DOB = 9th October 1993

Birth Place = Bacoor, Cavite ( Philippines)

Nationality = USA

 

Wesley started participating in chess tournaments when he was just 9 years old. In 2003, he participated in the Philippines National Chess Championship and scored first position in the U-10 section. After that, he never looked back and achieved the peak in his career. In 2004, he was titled with FIDE Master. Two years later, he became the International Master. In 2008, he achieved the highest achievement of his life the title of Chess Grandmaster.

7.    Ian Nepomniachtchi

The Russian chess player is the 7th strongest Chess player in the world according to the FIDE rating. At present his Elo rating in standard is 2766.

Full Name = Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi

DOB = 14th July 1990

Birth Place = Bryansk

Nationality = Russia

 

He has been very fond of chess since childhood and started playing chess and took participating in local tournaments. During the time period from 2000 to 2002, he won 3 straight European Championship Trophies. He scored the title of International Master in 2004 and after 3 years, he won the greatest position in Chess, The Grandmaster Title.

 

8.    Richard Rapport

Richard is the 8th strongest player on the basis of FIDE rating and world ranking. His Elo rating for the standard is 2764.

Full Name = Richard Rapport

DOB = 25th March 1996

Birth Place = Szombathely

Nationality = Hungary

 

 

He started chess at the age of 4. With good guidance and practice, he made his first victory when he won the European Championship at that time Richard was just 9 years old. After that, in 2008 he became FIDE Mater. For the next consecutive years, he won International Master and Grandmaster.

9.    Anish Giri

Anish is at 9th position in the world ranking by FIDE. He has been on the list of the strongest chess players in the world since 2009.

Full Name = Anish Kumar Giri

DOB = 28th June 1994

Birth Place = Saint Petersburg (Russia)

Nationality = Netherland

 

 

His FIDE rating is 2761. He learned about chess at the age of 6, but within 5 years he scored std. 2100 FIDE rating. In 2007, he participated in and won many Junior Chess Events in Russia. 2 years later, he earned the title of Grandmaster. At that time, he was the youngest grandmaster in the world.

10.Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vachier is a French chess player, featuring at 10th rank in the list of World Strongest Chess Players in the world. His current FIDE rating is 2760.

Full Name = Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

DOB = 12st October 1990

Birth Place = Nogent-sur-Marne

Nationality = France

Vachier’s relationship with chess began when he was 4 years old. In childhood, he got a gift on the eve of Christmas from a relative, and that was his primary move toward chess.  His non-stop winning journey started in 1997 when he won four consecutive chess Championships. In 2004, at the age of 13, Vacheir earned the title of International Master. In the next year, in February 2005, he achieved the biggest goal of his career, The Grandmaster.