The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE, is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20, 1924. Its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for 'We are one Family'. In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As of December 21, 2023, there are 201 member federations of FIDE.
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966; defeated Petrosian in 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in 1972.
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He was the first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster. Despite his eyesight and hearing having worsened, by his 100th birthday he continued to devote time to chess-related activities.
Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career, and tied for the Soviet Championship title in 1963, but lost the playoff. Kholmov was not well known in the West, since he never competed there during his career peak, being confined to events in socialist countries. His chess results were impressive, so this may have been for security reasons, as Kholmov had been a wartime sailor. But he was one of the strongest Soviet players from the mid-1950s well into the 1970s, and was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world by Chessmetrics.com from August 1960 to March 1961. Kholmov stayed active in competitive chess right to the end of his life, and maintained a high standard of play past the age of 80.
Nicolas Rossolimo was a Russian Empire-born chess player. After acquiring Greek citizenship in 1929, he was able to emigrate that year to France, and was many times chess champion of Paris. In 1952 he emigrated to the United States, and won the 1955 U.S. Open Chess Championship. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1953. Rossolimo was a resident of New York City until his death.
The 1948 World Chess Championship was a quintuple round-robin tournament played to determine the new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946. The tournament marked the passing of control of the championship title to FIDE, the International Chess Federation which had been formed in 1924. Mikhail Botvinnik won the five-player championship tournament, beginning the era of Soviet domination of international chess that would last over twenty years without interruption.
Aleksandar Matanović was a Serbian chess grandmaster and the founding editor-in-chief of Chess Informant, which publishes the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.
Nikolai Vladimirovich Krogius was a Russian chess Grandmaster, International Arbiter (1985), psychologist, chess coach, chess administrator, and author. He won several tournament titles at Sochi and in Eastern European events, and appeared in seven Soviet finals from 1958–71. His peak was in 1967 when he ranked 18th in the world for a time. He earned his doctorate in psychology, and specialized in sports psychology. He coached World Champion Boris Spassky for several years, also served as chairman of the USSR Chess Federation, and co-authored five chess books. He was the co-winner of the 1993 World Senior Chess Championship.
Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. Dubov won the 2018 World Rapid Chess Championship held in Saint Petersburg.
Isa Kasimi, born Igor Kondylev and known as Igors Rausis until 2020, is a retired chess International Master. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1992, but the title was stripped away after he was caught cheating in 2019. He won the Latvian Chess Championship in 1995. He represented Bangladesh from 2003 to 2007, when he switched to the Czech Republic.
Iván Faragó was a Hungarian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1976, won the Hungarian championship in 1986 and was an active player for over fifty years. He played in the German Bundesliga, where he represented the Griesheim chess club. He was born in Budapest.
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.
The 2021 chess calendar was again disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and because of this many chess OTB tournaments were stopped, but major events that took place included the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, won by Jorden van Foreest.
Gilles Mirallès was a French chess grandmaster.
During the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022, a controversy arose involving the chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, then world champion, and Hans Niemann. Carlsen, after surprisingly losing in their third-round matchup, dropped out of the tournament. Many interpreted his withdrawal as Carlsen tacitly accusing Niemann of having cheated. In their next tournament meetup, an online tournament, Carlsen abruptly resigned after one move, perplexing observers again. It became the most serious scandal about cheating allegations in chess in years, and it garnered significant attention in the news media worldwide.
Igor Naumkin was a Russian chess Grandmaster.
Alexander Ian Sherzer was an American chess grandmaster and medical doctor.
The main events in the 2023 chess calendar are the World Chess Championship 2023 and Women's World Chess Championship 2023. The top three finishers from the Chess World Cup 2023, the winner and runner-up of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 and the winner of the FIDE Circuit 2023 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2024. FIDE Circuit is the new path to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. One player who would achieve the highest results during 2023 in eligible tournaments gets the spot in the Candidates. The final score is calculated as the sum of the player's five highest scores.
Gibraltar 
Bilel Bellahcene 
Balazs Csonka 
Mariya Muzychuk 
Ravi Haria 
Sabino Brunello 
Reykjavík 
R Praggnanandhaa 
Max Warmerdam 
Mads Andersen 
Abhimanyu Mishra 
Paracin 
Alexandr Predke 
Alisher Suleymenov 
Berlin 
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
Amin Tabatabaei (IRI)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
Magnus Carlsen 
Haik M. Martirosyan 
Brežice 
Ivan Šarić 
San Salvador 
Yasser Quesada Pérez 
Uzbekistan 
Georgia 
Jerusalem 
China 
Spain 
Warsaw 