Vladimir Akopian is an Armenian-American chess Grandmaster.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is a Japanese-born American chess grandmaster, Twitch streamer, YouTube content creator, 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.
Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on the FIDE world rankings three times.
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue.
Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek was a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965. He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships, and was ranked as the world's No. 10 player in 1974. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2001. Kavalek was also a chess coach, organizer, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist.
Levon Grigori Aronian is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. He is a former world rapid and blitz champion and has held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth highest-rated player in history.
Thomas Llewelyn Jones was a Welsh language author. Over a writing career of more than 50 years, he became one of the most prolific and popular authors of children's books in Welsh. He wrote, and was generally known, as T. Llew Jones.
Isaac Kashdan was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion. He played five times for the United States in chess Olympiads, winning a total of nine medals, and his Olympiad record is the all-time best among American players.
Gabriel Eduardi Sargissian is an Armenian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the Chess Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. Sargissian was awarded the Movses Khorenatsi medal in June 2006 and awarded the Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia title in 2009.
Wang Yue is a Chinese chess player. In 2004, he became China's 18th grandmaster at the age of 17. He is China's first player ever to break into the top 10 of the FIDE world rankings and was the highest-ever rated Chinese player, with a peak rating of 2756, until August 2015, when this record was broken by Ding Liren.
Ni Hua is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the national team captain. He is three-time national champion. In 2003, he became China's 15th Grandmaster at the age of 19. In April 2008, Ni Hua and Bu Xiangzhi both became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating mark, after Wang Yue.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
Wesley Barbossa So is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in history.
Zhou Jianchao is a Chinese chess player. In 2006, he became China's 21st Grandmaster at the age of 17. Zhou competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009 and 2015.
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.
Robert Lee Hess is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2009. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2635, fifth in the United States. Hess is a commentator for Chess.com, covering events such as the World Chess Championship and Candidates Tournament. He also streams chess content on his Twitch channel GMHess, which has 73,000+ followers.
Eugenio "Eugene" Torre is a Filipino chess player. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster. Torre did this by winning the silver medal in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice, France. He is considered the strongest chess player the Philippines produced during the 1980s and 1990s, and played for the Philippines on board 1 in seventeen Chess Olympiads. In 2021, Torre was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Bobby Cheng is a New Zealand-Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2019. Cheng was world champion in the under 12 category in 2009, the only Australian in history to win a world title. Cheng won Australian Open championship in 2013 and Australian chess Championship in 2016.
Chess has been played in Armenia since the early Middle Ages; however, it was institutionalized during the early Soviet period. Highly popular in Armenia today, chess gained widespread recognition during the 1960s, when Soviet Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian became the World Chess Champion. A country of about three million people, Armenia is considered one of the strongest chess nations today, and a chess superpower. Among countries, Armenia has one of the most chess grandmasters per capita.
Enrico Sevillano is a Filipino and American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in September 2012. He plays for the United States Chess Federation (USCF) where he has a Regular Rating of 2542, Quick Rating of 2488 and Blitz Rating of 2572. He is ranked #112 among all players in the US, #72 among all active players, #235 in the American Continent and #1796 among all players in the world. Per FIDE, he reached a peak rating of 2537 and currently has an ELO standard rating of 2447 and blitz rating of 2515.
