Maurice Ashley is a Jamaican and American chess player, author, and commentator. In 1999, he earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, 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. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Alejandro Tadeo Ramírez Álvarez is a Costa Rican-American chess Grandmaster and commentator. At the age of 15, he became the first Central American to achieve the title of Grandmaster and was the second youngest chess grandmaster in the world at the time. Born in Costa Rica, he represented Costa Rica before switching to the United States in 2011.
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.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, at the age of 15, she became the top-ranked female chess player in the world. In 1991, she became the third woman to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. She won eleven medals at the Women's Chess Olympiad.
Katwe is an area in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital.
Phiona Mutesi is a Ugandan chess player. She has represented Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympiads, and is one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history. Mutesi is the subject of a 2012 book and a 2016 film called Queen of Katwe.
The Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) is the governing body of chess competition in Uganda and a member of FIDE, the international chess federation. It administers the official national chess rating system which awards both numeric ratings and titles of distinction. The UCF was founded in 1972, became affiliated with the National Council of Sports in 1973, and in 1978 was affiliated with FIDE, the first Federation in East Africa to achieve this.
Queen of Katwe is a 2016 American biographical sports drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by William Wheeler. Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl living in Katwe, a slum of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. She learns to play chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her victories at World Chess Olympiads.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
Madina Nalwanga is a Ugandan actress known for her lead role as Phiona Mutesi in Queen of Katwe (2016). The film depicts the life of Mutesi, a Ugandan girl living in a slum in Katwe who learns to play chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master. This role earned her the Most Promising Actor award at 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards in Lagos, Nigeria. She also won an NAACP Image Award, a Women Film Critics Circle Award, and was nominated for a Critic's Choice Award.
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.
Tanitoluwa Emmanuel "Tani" Adewumi is a Nigerian-American chess player who currently holds the title of FIDE Master (FM). A chess prodigy, he won the 2019 K-3 New York State chess championship at the age of 8 after having played the game for only a year while living with his refugee family in a homeless shelter in Manhattan.
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.
Tunde Onakoya is a Nigerian chess player and coach, who holds the Guinness World Records for the longest marathon chess game. As the founder and covener of Chess in Slums Africa, he has organised a number of interventions for children across slums in Lagos state including Majidun (Ikorodu), Makoko and recently, Oshodi.
Robert Katende is a Ugandan chess coach, footballer, and engineer. He is also the executive director of Sports Outreach.
Gloria Nansubuga is a Ugandan Chess player who became the youngest chess player in Ugandan history to be awarded a chess title of Woman FIDE Master by the year 2018.
The Gift of Chess is a US based 501(c)(3) federally recognized charity based in New York City.
