Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the title can be revoked for cheating.
Yasser Seirawan is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author and commentator.
Milan R. Vukcevich was a Yugoslav-American chemist, a grandmaster of chess problem composition and writer.
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess grandmaster.
Florin Felecan is a chess International Master. Born in Romania, he resides in Skokie, Illinois, having moved there on July 17, 1997, along with his family.
Larry Mark Christiansen is an American chess player of Danish ancestry. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1977. Christiansen was the U.S. champion in 1980, 1983, and 2002. He competed in the FIDE World Championship in 1998 and 2002, and in the FIDE World Cup in 2013.
Guy West is an Australian chess player who holds the FIDE title of International Master (IM). He is a former Australian Chess Champion.
Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk is a Brazilian chess player. He was awarded the title International Master by FIDE in 1978. Van Riemsdijk was also granted the title of International Arbiter in 1981.
Ilya Mark Gurevich is a Soviet-born American chess player.
Mihai Șubă is a Romanian and Spanish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1975 and the Grandmaster title in 1978.
Bachar Kouatly is a French chess grandmaster, journalist and activist. He is deputy president of FIDE.
Robert Murray Jamieson is an Australian chess International Master.
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.
Awonder Liang is an American chess prodigy. He is the third-youngest American to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, at the age of 14. Liang was twice world champion in his age category.
Marc Tyler Arnold is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in September 2012.
Jeffery Xiong is an American chess prodigy. He earned the Grandmaster title in September 2015 at the age of fourteen, the fourth youngest player to qualify in the US.
Salem Abdulrahman Mohamed Saleh is an Emirati chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2009. Saleh competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2023.
Jay Richard Bonin is an American International Master in chess, chess teacher, author and lecturer. He is known as the "Iron Man of Chess" and is among the most active tournament players in the US, having played over 25,000 tournament games.
Calvin John Klaasen is a South African chess player who holds the title of FIDE Master.
Brandon Jacobson is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster in 2020 at the age of 16. He previously held the International Master (2018) and FIDE Master (2017) titles. He is ranked the 36th best player in the United States. His highest rating was 2557. He was accepted to Columbia University at age 14. Brandon's older brother Aaron Jacobson holds the title of FIDE Master.
