Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time. A chess prodigy, she was the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of grandmaster and the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship.
Ray Robson is an American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010. Robson fulfilled the requirements for the title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 16 days, making him the youngest ever United States Grandmaster at the time.
Bassem Amin is an Egyptian chess grandmaster and medical doctor. He was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2006. Amin is the highest rated Egyptian and African player and the only medical doctor to have a FIDE peak rating of 2700+. Amin has also won the African chess championship seven times; 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Ahmed Adly is an Egyptian chess Grandmaster. As a chess prodigy, Adly acquired his International Master title in 2001 at the age of 14 at the U20 Championship of 2004. Adly then went on to earn his Grandmaster title in 2005, making him the first Egyptian and the youngest ever African to achieve this feat. As of May 2022, Adly holds the second-highest rating in Egypt and Africa.
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and norms. Once awarded, titles are held for life except in cases of fraud or cheating. Open titles may be earned by all players, while women's titles are restricted to female players. Many strong female players hold both open and women's titles. FIDE also awards titles for arbiters, organizers and trainers. Titles for correspondence chess, chess problem composition and chess problem solving are no longer administered by FIDE.
The Women's World Chess Championship was held from 16 March to 7 April 2015 in Sochi, Russia. It was a 64-player knockout tournament. It was originally scheduled from 11 to 31 October 2014 but problems in finding a sponsor and host city eventually forced international chess organisation FIDE to announce the postponement of the Championship on 24 September 2014, scheduling it for early 2015 in Sochi. The unclear state of the tournament was highly criticised by the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP).
Zhansaya Abdumalik is a Kazakhstani chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the first Kazakhstani woman, and the 39th woman overall, to earn the GM title. Abdumalik has a peak FIDE rating of 2505 and has been ranked as high as No. 11 in the world among women. Abdumalik has been a two-time girls' World Youth Champion as well as a girls' World Junior Champion. She is also a two-time Kazakhstani women's national champion, and has represented Kazakhstan in women's events at the Chess Olympiad, World Team Chess Championship, and the Asian Nations Chess Cup. On April 20, 2022, Zhansaya became the President of the Almaty Chess Federation.
Essam El-Gindy is an Egyptian chess Grandmaster and FIDE Trainer.
Nino Batsiashvili is a Georgian chess grandmaster and 4-time and the current Georgian women's chess champion.
Aryan Chopra is an Indian chess prodigy who became a grandmaster (GM) in 2016, at the age of 14 years, 9 months and 3 days. The title was officially awarded by FIDE in 2017. He became the second youngest Indian to become Grandmaster, after Parimarjan Negi.
Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei is an Iranian chess grandmaster.
Jesse February is a South African chess player who holds the title of Woman International Master. She is a two-time South African women's chess champion and has also won the African women's chess championship twice, in 2021 and 2024.
Shahenda Wafa is an Egyptian chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (2017). She is a three-time African Women's Chess Champion.
David Gareginovich Arutinian is a Georgian chess grandmaster since 2006, and an international master since 2002. He is ranked 9th in Georgia and 453rd in the world. His highest rating was 2593.
Hans Moke Niemann is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He became a FIDE Grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He first entered the Top 100 Junior players list at position 88 on March 1, 2019, and as of September 2023, he was the eighth-highest-rated Junior in the world. His peak global ranking was No. 31, in May 2023.
Abdelrahman Hesham is an Egyptian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2016.
Adham Fawzy is an Egyptian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2019. As of May 2023, he is the third-highest rated active Egyptian player, and fourth-highest in the African continent.
The Chess World Cup 2023 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 30 July to 24 August 2023. It was the 10th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner, runner-up and third-place finisher of the tournament earned the right to the play in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. In January 2024, Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates tournament, with the fourth-place finisher from the World Cup qualifying in his place. The tournament was held in parallel with the Women's Chess World Cup 2023.
Charlize van Zyl is a South African chess player who holds the title of Woman International Master, which she earned in 2013 at the age of 13, becoming the youngest South African to do so.
The Candidates Tournament 2024 and Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 will be held concurrently for the first time to determine the challengers for the World Chess Champion Ding Liren and Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will play Ding in the World Chess Championship 2024, while Ju will defend her title in 2025.
Bassem Amin (Egypt)
Jesse February (South Africa)
Morocco 
Zimbabwe 
Algeria 
Botswana 