Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, a feat he first achieved in 2006. In 2022, he was elected the deputy president of FIDE.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess.
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world as of July 2022.
Hikaru Nakamura is a Japanese-American chess grandmaster, Twitch streamer, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his Grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. Nakamura won the 2011 edition of Tata Steel Chess Tournament Group A and has represented the United States at five Chess Olympiads, winning a team gold medal and two team bronze medals. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest rated player in history.
Fast chess is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
Levon Grigori Aronian is an Armenian chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. Aronian held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth-highest rated player in history.
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion.
Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the 2009 World Team Chess Championship and at the European Team Chess Championships of 2007 and 2015.
Pavel Eljanov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Olympiads.
Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov, known internationally as Vugar Gashimov, was an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. He was a noted player of blitz chess. At his peak ranking, he was No. 6 in the world, achieved in November 2009.
The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
The FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 was a series of six chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification for the World Chess Championship 2012. It was administered by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. The event was won by Levon Aronian, with Teimour Radjabov second and Alexander Grischuk third.
The Chess World Cup 2005 served as a qualification tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. It was held as a 128-player tournament from 27 November to 17 December 2005 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Evgeniy Yuryevich Najer is a Russian chess grandmaster and the European champion of 2015. He is also one of the coaches of the Russian women's national team.
The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2012. Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the final.
The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cover a wide range of chess activities, including tournaments suitable for norm and title seekers, junior events, amateur competitions, simultaneous exhibitions, coaching, and lectures.
The Tal Memorial is an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992).
The Chess World Cup 2013 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, played between 11 August and 2 September 2013, in the hotel Scandic Tromsø in Tromsø, Norway. It was won by Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Dmitry Andreikin 2½–1½ in the final match. The finalists qualified for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.
Norway Chess is an annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, including seven of the ten highest rated players in the world per the May 2013 FIDE World Rankings. It was won by Sergey Karjakin, with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura tied for second place. Norway Chess 2015 took place in mid-June 2015 and was a part of the inaugural Grand Chess Tour. The tournament has since decided to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour.
Gashimov Memorial is a chess supertournament played in Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014).
Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
Viswanathan Anand (IND)
Levon Aronian (ARM)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)
Veselin Topalov (BUL)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA)