The first official Lebanese Chess Championship was held in 1953. Lebanese chess players had organized a tournament in 1943 to determine an unofficial champion. The championship has been held regularly, except in the war years of 1969, 1973, and 1975 to 1991. Edgard Chalabi's death caused the 1963 championship to be skipped, and no championship was held in 2006. The women's championship began in 1994.[ citation needed ]
Men and women play together in a single tournament. The top scorer wins the men's (overall) championship, the top female scorer wins the women's championship. In 2005, 22-year-old WIM Knarik Mouradian became the first woman to win the men's championship, winning eight games, drawing three, and losing none (9.5/11). FM Ahmad Najjar finished second. In 2007 they exchanged places, with Najjar winning the men's championship with 8.0/9 and Mouradian in second place a half point behind with 7.5/9 to win the women's championship.[ citation needed ]
1953 | Charles Salameh | – | ||||
1955 | Georges Malias | – | ||||
1956 | Edgard Chalabi | – | ||||
1957 | Serge Majarov | – | ||||
1958 | Edgard Chalabi | – | ||||
1959 | Carlos Maalouf | – | ||||
1960 | Serge Majarov | – | ||||
1961 | Fares Farah | – | ||||
1962 | Serge Majarov | – | ||||
1964 | Charles Salameh | – | ||||
1965 | Jacques Bedros | – | ||||
1966 | Maurice Gabriel | – | ||||
1967 | Antoine Ghaleb | – | ||||
1968 | Charles Salameh | – | ||||
1970 | Samir Sursock | – | ||||
1971 | Samir Sursock | – | ||||
1972 | Andre Tarazi | – | ||||
1974 | Safwan Akkari | – | ||||
1992 | Samir Sursock | – | ||||
1993 | Mounir Tawbeh | – | Wissam Hajj Ali | 1994 | Fadi Eid | Danielle Ghattas |
1995 | Antoine Kassis | Suzan Mouradian | ||||
1996 | Ahmad Najjar | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
1997 | Mansour Assaf | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
1998 | Fadi Eid | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
1999 | Ahmad Najjar | Suzan Mouradian | ||||
2000 | Abdulaziz Mahmoud | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2001 | Haytham Omar | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2002 | Faysal Khairallah | Suzan Mouradian | ||||
2003 | Faysal Khairallah | Suzan Mouradian | ||||
2004 | Faysal Khairallah | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2005 | Knarik Mouradian | Suzan Mouradian | ||||
2007 | Najjar Ahmad | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2008 | Faysal Khairallah | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2009 | Fadi Eid | Maya Jalloul | ||||
2010 | Amro El Jawich | Knarik Mouradian | ||||
2011 | Faysal Khairallah | |||||
2012 | Faysal Khairallah [2] | |||||
2013 | Ibrahim Chahrour [3] | |||||
2014 | Faysal Khairallah [4] | |||||
2015 | Amro El Jawich [5] | |||||
2016 | Faysal Khairallah [6] | |||||
2018 | Antoine Kassis [7] | |||||
2019 | Antoine Kassis [8] |
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion in 2004 and a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion. Kosteniuk won the team gold medal playing for Russia at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012 and 2014; the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017; and the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017; and the Women's Chess World Cup 2021. In 2022, due to sanctions imposed on Russian players after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she switched federations, and as of March 2023 she represents Switzerland.
Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgár's previous record by three months. In October 2007, Humpy became the second female player, after Polgár, to exceed the 2600 Elo rating mark, being rated 2606.
Antoaneta Stefanova is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and Women's World Champion from 2004 to 2006. She has represented Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad in 2000 and the Women's Chess Olympiad since 1992.
Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
Zhao Xue is a Chinese chess player. She is the 24th Chinese person to achieve the title of Grandmaster. Zhao was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese team at the Women's Chess Olympiad in 2002, 2004 and 2016, and at the Women's World Team Chess Championship in 2007, 2009 and 2011. She has competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018, reaching the semifinals in 2010.
Almira Skripchenko is a Moldovan-French chess player who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She won the European Women's Individual Chess Championship in 2001, and is a seven-time French Women's Chess Champion.
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time. Once 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.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
The Arab Chess Championship is an annual international chess competition organized by the Arab Chess Federation, with 18 member countries. Parallel Men's and Women's competitions have been held in various cities since 1983.
Tan Zhongyi is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk in the final. Tan is the reigning Women's World Rapid Champion. She is the three-time reigning Chinese women's national champion, and is a four-time national champion overall with titles in 2015, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Anna Yuriyivna Ushenina is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster who was Women's World Chess Champion from November 2012 to September 2013.
Surya Sekhar Ganguly, is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676. Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a grandmaster at the age of 19.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the highest-rated Chinese chess player in history and also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.
Eugenio "Eugene" Torre is a Filipino chess player. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and non-Soviet 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.
Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina is a Russian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the No. 2 ranked woman in the world by FIDE rating behind only Hou Yifan. With a peak rating of 2611, she is also the fourth-highest rated woman in chess history, and the highest-ever rated Russian woman. Goryachkina was the challenger in the 2020 Women's World Championship match, which she lost in rapid tiebreaks to Ju Wenjun. She is also a three-time Russian Women's Chess Champion, which she achieved in 2015, 2017, and 2020. In August 2023, she won the FIDE Women's World Cup after defeating Nurgyul Salimova in a tie break match.
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.
The Emirati Chess Championship is organized by the United Arab Emirates Chess Federation. It is one of the major national chess competitions of the United Arab Emirates held at standard time controls, the other being the UAE President's Cup, which has been held annually since 1994.
Govhar Beydullayeva is an Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. She is the 2022 World Girls U-20 Champion as well as the World Girl's U18 Champion in 2021.
John Paul Gomez is a Filipino chess player. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) in 2007 and International Grandmaster (GM) in 2009. He is a three-time Filipino national junior champion and has also won the Filipino Chess Championship.
Jack Mizzi is a Maltese chess player. He was born on the 17 May 2006 in Malta and is the U-20 Junior Chess Champion, the National Rapid Chess Champion and the National Blitz Chess Champion in Malta. Mizzi is the youngest chess player to have won the Preliminaries in Malta at 13 years old. At 16 years old he became the youngest Maltese player to be awarded the Candidate Master title. He was called a chess "prodigy" by the online journal Malta Today in their short documentary about Mizzi. Mizzi participated in the World Youth Chess Championships in Romania 2022. In 2023 he set a new Malta chess record winning the Malta Blitz Championship with a perfect 9-0 score.