List Of Top 20 Chess Players In The World

Chess is an indoor game that is played between two players on a board called a chessboard consisting of 64 black and white squares. Each player has 16 pieces that can be moved according to some fixed rules. The history of the Chess game can be traced back 1500 years. However, its origin is uncertain. Its earliest predecessors originated in India from where it came to Persia. From the conquest of Persia and the Arab invasion, it spread in the Mugal world. The modern chess tournaments began in the 19th century. The first World Chess Championship was organized in 1886. The highest title that a chess player can gain is Grandmasterapart from the World Champion. This title is for both women and men. The world chess organization gives the title of Grandmaster (GM). The Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE).

(Image will be uploaded soon)

List of Top 20 Chess Players in the world: 

The highest number of Grandmasters belongs to Russia in the world. Russia has around 256 Grandmasters.  India has 65 Grandmasters. The list of top 20 Chess players in the world in Chess is given below along with their country and world chess rankings 2020. GM Magnus Carlsen is the world no 1 chess player and holds the top position on the list.

Details of All Top Chess Players of the World:

Some achievements and details about the top 20 chess players in the world are given below.

• GM Magnus Carlsen:

GM Magnus Carlsen is the world no 1 chess player. He has made many records in the field of chess. He held the world number-one ranking in 2011 and still, he has maintained his ranking till now. At the age of five years, he learnt to play chess from his father. 

• GM Fabiano Caruana:

He is the youngest Grandmaster of America. He is in the second position with a rating of 2835. He is an Italian-American chess player. He has won several chess championships in his life. His playing style is based on opening preparation and calculation.

• GM Ding Liren:

GM Ding Liren is a Chinese chess player. At the age of 16, he won his first Chinese Chess Championship. He won the Chinese Chess Championship thrice. He won the Chess World Cup in 2017 and 2019. He is the highest-rated Chinese player.

• GM Ian Nepomniachtchi:

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi is a Russian super Grandmaster who won several Chess championships. He is also a commentator. He was a member of the Russian team that

won the World Team Chess Championship.

• GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave:

He is a French chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster at the age of 14. Maxime Vachier Lagrave was the world junior champion in 2009. He was a three-time French champion in the years 2007, 2011 and 2012.

• GM Alexander Grischuk:

GM Alexander Grischuk is a Russian chess champion who has consistently maintained his best position on the list of the world's chess champions. He won many medals in the Chess Olympiad for the team as well as individuals. 

• GM Levon Aronian:

He entered the list of top 20 Chess players of the world in the year 2005.  The rating of Levon Aronian reached 2830 in March 2014 that made him the 4th highest rated player of Chess. Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Fabiano Caruana attained a higher rating than Levon Aronian.

• GM Wesley So:

He is a Filipino-American Chess Champion. He started playing Chess Tournaments at the age of nine. He became the 9th youngest Grandmaster of history at the age of 14. In March 2017 he reached the second position in the list of Chess Champions with the rating of 2822.

• GM Teimour Radjabov:

GM Teimour Radjabov is from  Azerbaijan. Teimour with Azerbaijanian player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and others brought his nation to gold medals at European Team Chess Championship in 2013 and 2017. Radjabov took the first board for Azerbaijan in 2007 (third place), 2009 (first place), and 2011(second place) at European Team Chess Championship

• GM Anish Giri:

GM Anish Giri is a world-class champion. He has won the Dutch Chess Championship four times. Anish was ranked number three in the world on 15th February 2015. He attained a rating of 2802. He won the Reggio Emilia tournament in the year 2012.

• GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov:

GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is a chess player from Azerbaijan. He ranked at the number two position in the list of top chess players in the world by the FIDE rating list in February 2018. Mamedyarov achieved a rating of 2826 on 30 September 2018.

• GM Hao Wang:

GM Wang Hao is a super grandmaster from China. He was a Chinese candidate for the world championship in the year 2020. His youth career in the field of chess is fantastic. At the age of 16, he became champion of the seventh Dubai Open.

• GM Richard Rapport:

GM Richard Rapport is a Hungarian chess player. He was the first youngest Hungarian Grandmaster of chess prior to turning 14 years old. He won the Hungarian Chess Championship in 2017. Richard broke the rating of 2750  threshold in September 2019.

• GM Leinier Dominguez Perez:

GM Leinier Dominguez Perez is a Cuban-American GM. He was given his GM title in 2001. Leinier won his first of five Cuban Chess Championships in the year 2002 which helped him to reach a 2700 rating in 2008.

• GM Viswanathan Anand:

GM Viswanathan Anand is an Indian Chess player. He became GM after winning the Asian Junior Championship 1984 at the age of 15. He was a continuous winner of the Indian Chess Championship from 1986 to 1988. He was the winner of the World Junior Championship in 1987. Viswanathan Anand rating is 2753.

(Image will be uploaded soon)

• GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda:

He is a Polish chess Grandmaster. He earned his title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years in 2013. He won the Polish championship in 2018. He participated in the Chess World Cup 2021. In five rounds he defeated GM Alexander Grischuk, Vidit Gujrathi,  Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin. 

• GM Sergey Karjakin:

GM Sergey Karjakin is a Russian chess player. He became the youngest-ever Grandmaster at the age of 12 years. He is known for his defensive playing style which has earned him a nickname as Russia's "Minister of Defense"

• GM Hikaru Nakamura:

Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess player. He was born in Hirakata, Japan. His family moved to the United States. He has been one of the world’s top players for well over a decade. He won five-time the championship of the United States. 

• GM Veselin Topalov:

GM Veselin Topalov is a Bulgarian player. He was the FIDE world champion in 2005. He was the number 1 chess player in the world from April 2006 to January 2007 and again from October 2008 until January 2010. His peak rating is  2826 that he gained in 2015

• GM Wei Yi:

GM Wei Yi is an elite Chinese player. He broke the record for the youngest player of GM Magnus Carlsen’s to reach a rating of 2700 at the age of 15 years. He became the fourth-youngest Grandmaster in the history of the international chess championship at the time. He is one of the greatest chess prodigies in history.

Did You Know?

• The majority of Grandmaster titles are won by men. Nona Gaprindashvili was the first woman to win the title of Grandmasters (GM) in the world in 1978.

• GM Vishwanath Anand is on the top of the Indian chess rankings.