The game of chess, or rather its immediate precursor, known as shatranj, was introduced to Europe from the Islamic sphere, most likely via Iberia, in the 9th or 10th century.
Nigel David Short is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989. In 1993, he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA world championship in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.
Michael Adams is an English chess grandmaster and is an eight-time British Chess Champion. His highest ranking is world No. 4, achieved several times from October 2000 to October 2002. His peak Elo rating is 2761, the highest achieved by an English chess player.
David Wei Liang Howell is an English chess grandmaster and commentator. A three-time British champion, he holds the record for being the youngest British person to achieve the title of Grandmaster, earned at the age of 16.
Daniel William Gormally is an English chess Grandmaster. His peak rating is 2573, achieved in the January 2006 rating list.
Yannick Pelletier is a Swiss chess Grandmaster and a six-time Swiss Champion currently living in Luxembourg.
The British Rapidplay Chess Championships was a rapid play chess congress held in the UK annually since 1986 until. Dec 20th 2022.It was under the auspices of the English Chess Federation. but never was funded underwritten nor sponsored by the ECF. The UK's premier weekend rapidplay congress included The British Rapidplay Championship which was open to all players, and several grading restricted and junior tournaments. The tournament took place over two days and consisted of 11 rounds of chess. There were Open, Major, Intermediate, Minor and Junior categories with arbiters for each section.The event has been held in Leeds, Bradford and Halifax over the years.
Hrant Melkumyan is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and European Blitz Champion in 2011.
Andrei Istrățescu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 1998 and in the FIDE World Cup in 2005 and 2013. Istrățescu has played for the Romanian national team in the Chess Olympiad, the European Team Chess Championship and the Chess Balkaniads. He represented France from 2011 to 2017. In 2004 he finished in second place behind Anatoly Karpov in the rapid knockout tournament in Aix en Provence. Subsequently, a rematch was set up in Bucharest: four classical games and four rapid games. The final score was 6-2 in favour of Karpov.
Keith Charles Arkell is an English chess Grandmaster.
Stuart C. Conquest is an English chess Grandmaster, commentator and tournament director.
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.
Bogdan Lalic is a Croatian chess grandmaster. He has the record of an unbeaten streak of 155 games.
Vadim Volodymyrovych Malakhatko was a Ukrainian and Belgian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Ukrainian team at the 2001 World Team Chess Championship. In 2000, he won with the Ukrainian team a bronze medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.
The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cover a wide range of chess activities, including tournaments suitable for norm and title seekers, junior events, amateur competitions, simultaneous exhibitions, coaching, and lectures.
Anthony Cornelis Kosten is an English-French chess Grandmaster and chess author.
Eric Hansen is a Canadian chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title in 2013. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2011 and 2013. Hansen has represented Canada in the Chess Olympiad since 2012.
Ma Qun is a Chinese chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 2013. Ma played for the gold medal-winning Chinese team in the Asian Nations Cup 2014 in Tabriz, Iran and also earned the individual gold medal on board 4 thanks to a score of 7/7 points, namely winning all seven games he played.
Jonathan Hawkins is an English chess grandmaster. He was the British Chess Champion in 2015, having outscored David Howell, with whom he shared the title in 2014.
Justin Tan is an Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018, becoming the 8th Australian to achieve the title. He was formerly British Blitz Champion and was British Under-21 Champion twice.
England 
