Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by former world champion Bobby Fischer. She was the youngest player ever to break into the FIDE top 100 players rating list, ranking No. 55 in the January 1989 rating list, at the age of 12.
The game of chess, or rather its immediate precursor, known as shatranj, was introduced to Europe from the Islamic sphere, most likely via Iberia, in the 9th or 10th century.
Nigel David Short is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989. In 1993, he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA world championship in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.
Anthony John Miles was an English chess player and the first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title.
Pentala Harikrishna is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior Champion in 2004, and Asian Individual Champion in 2011. He is currently sixth-highest rated player in India. Harikrishna won the Tata Steel Group B in 2012 and the Biel MTO Masters Tournament Open event in 2013. He represented India at seven Chess Olympiads from 2000 to 2012 and won team Bronze at the World Team Chess Championships in 2010. At the Asian Team Championships, Harikrishna won team gold once, team silver twice and individual bronze once.
Julian Michael "Jules" Hodgson is a British chess player, grandmaster, and former British chess champion.
David Wei Liang Howell is an English chess grandmaster and commentator. A three-time British champion, he holds the record for being the youngest British person to achieve the title of Grandmaster, earned at the age of 16.
Andrew Jonathan Mestel is a British mathematician and chess player. He holds the position of Professor of Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London. He worked on magnetohydrodynamics and biological fluid dynamics. He obtained his PhD with the thesis "Magnetic Levitation of Liquid Metals" at University of Cambridge.
China is a major chess power, with the women's team winning silver medals at the Olympiad in 2010, 2012, and 2014; the men's team winning gold at the 2014 Olympiad, and the average rating for the country's top ten players third in the FIDE rankings as of April 2023.
The term Chess Bundesliga normally refers to the premier league of team chess in Germany established in 1980. It is arguably the strongest league of its kind and attracts many high-rated grandmasters.
Mark Lesland Hebden is an English chess player who holds the title Grandmaster.
Keith Charles Arkell is an English chess Grandmaster.
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant is a Georgian -born Scottish Chess Grandmaster.
Daniel John King is an English chess grandmaster, writer, coach, journalist and broadcaster.
Gawain Christopher Bernard Jones is an English chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. He won the British Chess Championship in 2012 and 2017. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013, 2017 and 2019.
Stewart Gavin Haslinger is an English chess Grandmaster and former British Junior champion.
Lawrence Trent is an English International Master chess player and commentator. Trent has host-commentated for major FIDE tournaments, including the World Chess Championship Finals for Anand–Carlsen (2013), World Candidates Tournament (2013), World Chess Cup (2013), and the 41st Chess Olympiad. He has also host-commentated for independent super-tournaments, including the London Chess Classic from 2009 to 2014.
The Professional Rapid Online Chess League was an online rapid chess league operated by chess.com. It was preceded by the United States Chess League, which announced in 2016 that it would be renamed, reformatted, and opened to cities from around the world, and moved to the website chess.com. It was discontinued in 2024.
Justin Tan is an Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018, becoming the 8th Australian to achieve the title. He was formerly British Blitz Champion and was British Under-21 Champion twice.
Women represent a small minority of chess players at all ages and levels. Female chess players today generally compete in a mix of open tournaments and women's tournaments, the latter of which are most prominent at or near the top level of women's chess and at youth levels. Modern top-level women's tournaments help provide a means for some participants to be full-time professional chess players. The majority of these tournaments are organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and revolve around the World Championship cycle, which culminates in a match to decide the Women's World Chess Champion. Beyond those events, among the most prominent women's tournaments are women's and girls' national and continental championships.
