There are 42 female chess players who hold the title of Grandmaster (GM), the highest title awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). The Grandmaster title was formally established by FIDE in 1950. Modern regulations typically require players to achieve a FIDE rating of 2500 and three tournament norms that include a GM-level performance rating of 2600 to be awarded the title, although there are various exceptions. Since 1993, players who win the Women's World Championship are directly awarded the Grandmaster title. Like all FIDE titles, the Grandmaster title is awarded for life and does not require a player to maintain a performance level or remain active after the award.
Nona Gaprindashvili, a Soviet chess player from Georgia, was the first woman to become a grandmaster in 1978, receiving the title largely by virtue of being the first woman to achieve a GM norm a year earlier. In 1991, Susan Polgar became the first woman to achieve the Grandmaster title through a full set of standard norms based on performance rating. Later that year at age 15, her younger sister Judit Polgár became the youngest grandmaster in history, breaking the previous record set by Bobby Fischer. Although there were only six female grandmasters by 2000 and the number of female grandmasters has never been more than a few percent of the total, the turn of the century saw a substantial increase in the number of women to be awarded the title. This increase in the number of grandmasters has made it possible to stage women-only round-robin tournaments such as FIDE Women's Grand Prix events that feature predominantly grandmasters. At the same time, in an era where the Grandmaster title is no longer indicative of the upper echelon of chess overall, Hou Yifan has been the only player since 2000 to join Judit Polgár and Maia Chiburdanidze as female grandmasters who have been ranked in the top 100 among all players.
As of 2023, all female grandmasters are alive, and the vast majority who obtained the title since 2000 are still active. China and Russia have had the most female grandmasters, and seven countries have had more than one. Nearly all female grandmasters are from Europe or Asia, and Irina Krush of the United States is the only one from another continent. Judit Polgár's record for the youngest female grandmaster was beaten in 2002 by Koneru Humpy and was lowered again in 2008 by Hou Yifan, who became a grandmaster at age 14. Beyond the players who hold the GM title, there are over 400 additional women who have achieved the separate Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title, which has different requirements. [upper-alpha 1]
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) was established in 1924 as the governing body of competitive chess. At the time, the term "grandmaster" was already being informally used to describe the world's leading chess players since the players competing in the Championship section of the Ostend 1907 chess tournament were referred to as "grandmasters" in reference to them all having previously won international tournaments. [2] Separate from FIDE, the Soviet Union also designated their own grandmasters as early as 1927. [3] Informal use of the term continued until 1950 when FIDE officially awarded the Grandmaster (GM) title to 27 of the world's top past and present players who were still alive, none of whom were women. [4] Vera Menchik, who regularly competed against high-level male players and was the only Women's World Champion before that year, was not considered because she had already been killed in World War II. [5]
FIDE first established formal criteria for the Grandmaster title in 1953. These criteria included precursors to the modern-day concept of norms in that the requirements depended on a player's score in a few individual tournaments with a specified percentage of titled players. [6] FIDE modified these criteria to have GM norms (then called GM results) take into account a tournament's average rating of the competing players in 1970 when they first adopted an Elo rating system. [7] No earlier than 1977, FIDE added a requirement that players must achieve a FIDE rating of 2450, a threshold that was later increased to the modern-day requirement of 2500. [4] [8] Modern GM norms that require a performance rating of 2600 are still based on a player's score, but instead depend on the average rating of the player's opponents rather than all of the players in the tournament. [9]
Beginning in the 1960s, Nona Gaprindashvili was the first woman since Menchik to be competitive against high-level male players. At the 1977 Lone Pine International after about 15 years as Women's World Champion, she became the first woman to achieve a GM norm. Gaprindashvili compiled a performance rating of 2647 and scored 6½/9 to finish in joint first with three others, including GMs Yuri Balashov and Oscar Panno. The following year, FIDE decided to directly award her the Grandmaster title because of that first norm and her other accomplishments, bypassing the typical requirement for players to have achieved two or three norms to earn the GM title. [upper-alpha 2] Maia Chiburdanidze succeeded her compatriot Gaprindashvili as Women's World Champion in 1978 and became the second woman to obtain the Grandmaster title in 1984 through her three World Championship match wins. [15] Later on, she also became the first woman ranked in the top 100, peaking at No. 43 in 1988. [16] [17]
Following these first two female grandmasters from Georgia, back then still a part of the Soviet Union, the Polgár sisters ended the Soviet Union's four-decades-long domination over women's chess as all three sisters helped lead Hungary to the gold medal at the 1988 Women's Chess Olympiad and Susan Polgar had already become the top-rated female chess player in 1984 at age 15. [18] Between 1988 and 1989, all three of Susan, Sofia, and Judit Polgár earned their first GM norms as teenagers in open tournaments in Royan, Rome, and Amsterdam respectively, [19] [20] [21] the middle of which drew widespread attention because of Sofia's very high performance rating of around 2900, well above the norm requirement. [22] [23] [24] Judit was also already ranked in the top 100 in 1989 at the age of 12, [16] [25] and later peaked at No. 8 in the world in 2003. [26] In 1991, both Susan and Judit achieved the Grandmaster title. Susan was the third female grandmaster, and the first to earn the title with a complete set of GM norms based on performance rating and satisfying the rating requirement. [27] Judit achieved her final GM norm as part of her victory in the open Hungarian Championship to become the fourth female grandmaster. At the age of 15 years and 5 months, she also became the youngest grandmaster in history, breaking Bobby Fischer's previous record from 1958 of 15 years and 6 months. [28] [29] She held the overall record for a little over two years. [30] Pia Cramling and Xie Jun soon followed in obtaining the Grandmaster title in the next few years, and were the last two to do so before 2000. [15] [31] Xie was the first female grandmaster from outside Europe and the second grandmaster from China overall. [32] [33]
After over six years without another woman achieving the Grandmaster title, the next century saw a much larger influx of new female grandmasters. Once Zhu Chen ended that stretch in 2001, the next two decades rarely saw gaps of more than a year without a new female grandmaster. Judit Polgár's record as the youngest female grandmaster lasted a little over a decade until it was broken by Koneru Humpy in 2002 at the age of 15 years and 1 month. Hou Yifan then became the youngest female grandmaster in 2008 at 14 years and 6 months. [28] Hou also reached the top 100 in 2014, peaking at No. 55 a year later. [34] At some point by 2003, FIDE changed their regulations and began awarding the Grandmaster title to players who win the Women's World Championship if they are not already grandmasters. [35] Since then, four players have obtained the Grandmaster title in this manner, most recently Tan Zhongyi in 2017. [36] [37] [38] [39] The Kosintseva sisters Tatiana and Nadezhda as well as the Muzychuk sisters Anna and Mariya both joined Susan and Judit Polgár as pairs of sisters to both be awarded the Grandmaster title. [40] Irina Krush was the first player from outside Europe or Asia to be awarded the title in 2013. [40] [41]
With the increase in number of female grandmasters, it has been possible to stage women-only round-robin tournaments featuring mostly grandmasters. These include some of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix events that have been held since 2009 and the Cairns Cup that began in 2019. [42] [43] All but one of the ten players in the 2020 Cairns Cup were grandmasters. [44] When the Candidates tournament was revived in 2019 to decide the next World Championship challenger, all of the competitors were grandmasters rated above 2500. [45] While there has continued to be more female grandmasters, the rate of new women to achieve the title has thus far peaked a little before the 2010s. [46] As the overall number of grandmasters has increased from about 300 in 1990 to over 1700 by 2020, women still make up no more than a few percent of the total. [47] [48]
The modern requirements as of 2022 to obtain the Grandmaster title are essentially to reach a minimum FIDE rating of 2500 and achieve three tournament GM norms, albeit there are exceptions. [9]
FIDE ranks players according to their official FIDE ratings published each month. These ratings are determined using an Elo rating system, which was first implemented in 1970. They depend only on the results of individual games at FIDE-rated tournaments. For a player who has previously been rated above 2400 playing against an opponent with an identical rating, a win is worth 5 rating points, a draw is worth 0 rating points, and a loss is worth -5 rating points. These values increase against higher-rated opponents and decrease against lower-rated opponents. Players can gain or lose no more than 10 rating points for a win or a loss respectively, [upper-alpha 3] and can gain or lose no more than 5 rating points for a draw. [51] Although FIDE ratings are only published at the start of every month, the required rating for the Grandmaster title of 2500 can be achieved in the middle of a rating period or even the middle of a tournament. [9]
A norm is a performance at a title level at a FIDE-rated tournament. Players need to have a performance rating of at least 2600 to achieve a GM norm at a tournament. A player's performance rating depends on their score in the tournament and the average rating of their opponents. [upper-alpha 4] The player's score is converted to a rating difference according to a published conversion table of values, and that rating difference is added to their opponents' average rating to compute their performance rating. For example, some of the scores a player may need to achieve a GM norm in a nine-round tournament are 7/9 [upper-alpha 5] against 2380-rated opponents, 6½/9 against 2434-rated opponents, or 4½/9 against 2600-rated opponents. Moreover, there are other requirements such as having one-third of a player's opponents be grandmasters. Although players generally need three GM norms, the exact requirement is for them to have 27 games between all of their norms. As a result, they may need one extra norm if their tournaments are shorter than the usual required length of at least nine games. [9]
A player can circumvent these requirements and achieve a norm or be awarded the title directly if they achieve certain results at specified tournaments. The regulation that has been most relevant to female players is that any winner of the Women's World Championship who is not already a grandmaster is directly awarded the Grandmaster title. Any runner-up receives a GM norm. [9] [52]
Winning the Women's World Championship did not always confer a direct award of the title. Around the time Maia Chiburdanidze was world champion, each World Championship match win only resulted in a norm and thus three match wins or other norms were needed to obtain the title. Around the time Xie Jun was world champion, only two World Championship match wins were required to obtain the title. [15] Beginning in 1993, the requirements changed to a direct award of the Grandmaster title simply for winning the championship. [53]
In the past, FIDE had counted norms at the Chess Olympiad and continental championships as "double norms" over 20 games. As a result, it was common for players to need only one additional norm plus the rating requirement if they earned a norm at the Women's Chess Olympiad or the European Individual Women's Chess Championship (EWCC). This regulation for the Olympiad began in 2005 and was discontinued in 2017. [9] [54] [55] The regulation for the continental championships was discontinued earlier in 2014. [56] [57] Previously from 2003 to 2005, players could be directly awarded the Grandmaster title if they achieved just the performance rating of 2600 required for a typical GM norm, a feat known as a GM performance, over at least 12 games at a continental championship. [35] [58]
Header | Explanation |
---|---|
Name | Player's name |
Federation | Current national federation as of July 2023. Previous federations specified in notes. |
Birth date | Player's birth date |
Age | Player's current age |
Award year | Year FIDE awarded the player's GM title |
Title date | Month the last requirement for the GM title was completed. Direct awards indicated in notes. Unclear cases are italicized. |
Title age | Player's age at the time of the title date |
Peak rating | Highest published FIDE rating during a player's career as of July 2023, referenced by the player's FIDE profile |
WWC | First and last years a player was the Women's World Champion (WWC). Multiple reigns are specified in notes. |
Title app | Player's GM title application, linked from their initials. Links to norm specifics. |
Refs | Additional references if needed or complementary to the GM title application. |
° | Active player (as of May 2024) |
Name | Federation | Birth date | Age | Award year | Title date | Title age | Peak rating | WWC | Title app | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First | Last | ||||||||||
Nona Gaprindashvili ° | Georgia [lower-alpha 1] | 3 May 1941 | 83 | 1978 | November 1978 [lower-roman 1] | 37 | 2495 | 1962 | 1978 | [13] [59] [60] | |
Maia Chiburdanidze | Georgia [lower-alpha 2] | 17 January 1961 | 63 | 1984 | October 1984 [upper-alpha 6] | 23 | 2560 | 1978 | 1991 | [17] [61] | |
Susan Polgar | Hungary [lower-alpha 3] | 19 April 1969 | 55 | 1991 | January 1991 | 21 | 2577 | 1996 | 1999 | [27] [64] [65] | |
Judit Polgár | Hungary | 23 July 1976 | 48 | 1992 | December 1991 | 15 | 2735 | N/A | [28] [66] | ||
Pia Cramling ° | Sweden | 23 April 1963 | 61 | 1992 | February 1992 | 28 | 2550 | N/A | [31] [67] | ||
Xie Jun | China | 30 October 1970 | 53 | 1994 | December 1993 [lower-roman 2] | 23 | 2574 | 1991 | 2001 [lower-greek 1] | [15] [68] | |
Zhu Chen | Qatar [lower-alpha 4] | 16 March 1976 | 48 | 2001 | November 2000 | 24 | 2548 | 2001 | 2004 | [70] [71] [72] | |
Koneru Humpy° | India | 31 March 1987 | 37 | 2002 | May 2002 | 15 | 2623 | N/A | [28] [73] | ||
Antoaneta Stefanova ° | Bulgaria | 19 April 1979 | 45 | 2002 | June 2002 | 23 | 2560 | 2004 | 2006 | [74] | |
Alexandra Kosteniuk ° | Switzerland [lower-alpha 5] | 23 April 1984 | 40 | 2004 | April 2004 [lower-roman 3] | 19 | 2561 | 2008 | 2010 | AK | [76] |
Peng Zhaoqin° | Netherlands [lower-alpha 6] | 8 May 1968 | 56 | 2004 | April 2004 [lower-roman 4] | 35 | 2472 | N/A | [78] | ||
Xu Yuhua | China | 29 October 1976 | 47 | 2007 | March 2006 [lower-roman 5] | 29 | 2517 | 2006 | 2008 | [36] | |
Hoang Thanh Trang° | Hungary [lower-alpha 7] | 25 April 1980 | 44 | 2007 | June 2006 | 26 | 2511 | N/A | HTT | ||
Kateryna Lagno ° | Russia [lower-alpha 8] | 27 December 1989 | 34 | 2007 | August 2006 | 16 | 2563 | N/A | KL | [28] | |
Zhao Xue° | China | 6 April 1985 | 39 | 2008 | July 2007 | 23 | 2579 | N/A | ZX | ||
Marie Sebag ° | France | 15 October 1986 | 37 | 2008 | May 2008 | 21 | 2537 | N/A | MS | [80] | |
Monika Soćko ° | Poland | 24 March 1978 | 46 | 2008 | May 2008 | 30 | 2505 | N/A | MS | ||
Nana Dzagnidze ° | Georgia | 1 January 1987 | 37 | 2008 | September 2008 | 21 | 2573 | N/A | ND | ||
Hou Yifan° | China | 27 February 1994 | 30 | 2008 | September 2008 | 14 | 2686 | 2010 | 2017 [lower-greek 2] | HY | [28] |
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant ° | Scotland [lower-alpha 9] | 19 July 1968 | 56 | 2009 | November 2008 | 40 | 2506 | N/A | KAG | [83] | |
Tatiana Kosintseva | Russia | 11 April 1986 | 38 | 2009 | February 2009 | 22 | 2581 | N/A | TK | ||
Natalia Zhukova ° | Ukraine | 5 June 1979 | 45 | 2010 | March 2010 | 30 | 2499 | N/A | NZ | ||
Viktorija Čmilytė | Lithuania | 6 August 1983 | 41 | 2010 | March 2010 | 26 | 2542 | N/A | VC | ||
Elina Danielian ° | Armenia [lower-alpha 10] | 16 August 1978 | 46 | 2010 | August 2010 | 31 | 2521 | N/A | ED | ||
Nadezhda Kosintseva | Russia | 14 January 1985 | 39 | 2011 | February 2011 | 26 | 2576 | N/A | NK | [85] | |
Harika Dronavalli ° | India | 12 January 1991 | 33 | 2011 | July 2011 | 20 | 2543 | N/A | HD | [86] | |
Ju Wenjun° | China | 31 January 1991 | 33 | 2014 | October 2011 | 20 | 2604 | 2018 | Pres. | JW | [87] |
Anna Muzychuk ° | Ukraine [lower-alpha 11] | 28 February 1990 | 34 | 2012 | November 2011 | 21 | 2606 | N/A | AM | ||
Anna Ushenina ° | Ukraine | 30 August 1985 | 38 | 2012 | December 2012 [lower-roman 6] | 27 | 2502 | 2012 | 2013 | [37] [89] | |
Valentina Gunina ° | FIDE [upper-alpha 7] | 4 February 1989 | 35 | 2013 | January 2013 | 23 | 2548 | N/A | VG | ||
Bella Khotenashvili ° | Georgia | 1 June 1988 | 36 | 2013 | May 2013 | 24 | 2531 | N/A | BK | [90] [91] | |
Irina Krush ° | United States | 24 December 1983 | 40 | 2013 | September 2013 | 29 | 2502 | N/A | IK | [41] | |
Mariya Muzychuk ° | Ukraine | 21 September 1992 | 31 | 2015 | April 2015 [lower-roman 7] | 22 | 2563 | 2015 | 2016 | [38] [92] | |
Lei Tingjie° | China | 3 March 1997 | 27 | 2017 | December 2016 | 19 | 2554 | N/A | LT | [28] | |
Tan Zhongyi° | China | 29 May 1991 | 33 | 2017 | March 2017 [lower-roman 8] | 25 | 2540 | 2017 | 2018 | [39] | |
Nino Batsiashvili ° | Georgia | 1 January 1987 | 37 | 2018 | January 2018 | 31 | 2528 | N/A | NB | [93] | |
Aleksandra Goryachkina ° | FIDE [upper-alpha 7] | 28 September 1998 | 25 | 2018 | February 2018 | 19 | 2611 | N/A | AG | [28] | |
Olga Girya | Russia | 4 June 1991 | 33 | 2021 | March 2021 | 29 | 2505 | N/A | OG | [94] | |
Zhansaya Abdumalik ° | Kazakhstan | 12 January 2000 | 24 | 2021 | May 2021 | 21 | 2507 | N/A | ZA | [95] | |
Elisabeth Pähtz ° | Germany | 8 January 1985 | 39 | 2022 | November 2021 | 36 | 2513 | N/A | EP | [96] [97] | |
Zhu Jiner° | China | 16 November 2002 | 21 | 2023 | April 2023 | 20 | 2507 | N/A | ZJ | [98] | |
Vaishali Rameshbabu° | India | 21 June 2001 | 23 | 2023 | December 2023 | 22 | 2506 | N/A | VR | [99] |
Federation switches:
Direct awards:
Multiple reigns of the Women's World Championship:
The following chart illustrates the total number of female grandmasters by year based on the date when each player achieved the GM title (the title date).
The following chart illustrates the cumulative number of female grandmasters by age based on the date when each player achieved the GM title (the title date).
The following table shows the number of active female grandmasters from each national federation, as well as the count of all female grandmasters according to their current federation, their federation at the time they were awarded the title, and the overall total.
Federation | Active (May 2024) | Current (May 2024) | At award date | Overall |
---|---|---|---|---|
China | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Georgia | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
Ukraine | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
India | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
FIDE [upper-alpha 7] | 2 | 2 | 0 | N/A |
Russia | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
Hungary | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
United States | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Armenia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
France | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Germany | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Kazakhstan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Poland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Scotland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Qatar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Vietnam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 32 | 42 | 42 | – |
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.
Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by former world champion Bobby Fischer. She was the youngest player ever to break into the FIDE top 100 players rating list, ranking No. 55 in the January 1989 rating list, at the age of 12.
A chess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become World Chess Champions.
Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. She is the sixth Women's World Chess Champion, a title she held from 1978 to 1991, and was the youngest one until 2010, when this record was broken by Hou Yifan. Chiburdanidze is the second woman to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE, which took place in 1984. She has played on nine gold-medal-winning teams in the Women's Chess Olympiad.
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. Humpy is the first Indian female grandmaster.
Nona Gaprindashvili is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 was the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE title of Grandmaster. She was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Presidential Order of Excellence in 2015.
Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling is a Swedish chess grandmaster. Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest female players in the world as well as having been the highest-rated woman in the FIDE World Rankings on three occasions. She was the clear number-one-rated woman in the January 1984 rating list, and joint number-one-rated woman in the January 1983 and July 1984 lists. In 1992, she became the fifth woman to earn the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).
Anna Olehivna Muzychuk is a Ukrainian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a FIDE rating of at least 2600. She has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the world, and No. 2 among women. Muzychuk is a three-time world champion in fast chess, having won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship once in 2014 and the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship twice in 2014 and 2016. In classical chess, she was the 2017 Women's World Championship runner-up.
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Shenzhen University. She is 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.
The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's control in 1948.
Anna Rudolf is a Hungarian chess player, chess commentator, livestreamer, and YouTuber who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a three-time Hungarian women's national chess champion and has represented Hungary at the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship. She has a peak FIDE rating of 2393 and a career-best ranking of No. 71 in the world among women.
A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most prestigious of which is Grandmaster; many national chess federations also grant titles such as "National Master". More broadly, the term "master" can refer to any highly skilled chess player.
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.
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 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.
The Women's World Chess Championship 2017 was a 64-player knock-out tournament, to decide the women's world chess champion. The final was won by Tan Zhongyi over Anna Muzychuk in the rapid tie-breaks.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 20 June 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked No. 8 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.
Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he became the youngest player ever to qualify for the grandmaster title on June 30, 2021, at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, beating Sergey Karjakin's record of 12 years and 7 months, which had stood since 2002.
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.