The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster.
Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Russian chess player and writer. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990, he was FIDE World Chess Champion in 1999.
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion.
Shahriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov, known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. As of December 2023, he is Azerbaijan's highest rated chess player. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player in chess history.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the 2009 World Team Chess Championship and at the European Team Chess Championships of 2007 and 2015.
Pavel Eljanov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Olympiads.
The World Amateur Chess Championship is a tournament organised by FIDE and Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO).
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.
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.
Kaido Külaots is an Estonian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a double gold medalist at the Olympiad. He is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 2700. He became the third Indian to qualify for the Candidates tournament by winning Grand Swiss 2023.
Qiyu Zhou, also known as Nemo Zhou and her online alias akaNemsko, is a Chinese-born Canadian chess player who holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and FIDE Master (FM), and is a live streamer on Twitch. She has been an under-14 girls' World Youth Champion, a Canadian women's national champion, and a Finnish women's national champion. Zhou has a peak FIDE rating of 2367 and a career-best ranking of No. 100 in the world among women. She is the first Canadian woman to earn the Woman Grandmaster or FIDE Master titles, and has represented Canada at the Women's Chess Olympiad since 2014.
The Myanmar National Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament organized by the Myanmar Chess Federation. With the exception of a hiatus in 1977, the tournament has been held annually since 1974. IM Wynn Zaw Htun is the most successful player, winning the championship nine times.
Vladislav Vladimirovich Kovalev is a Belarusian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He was Belarusian Chess Champion in 2016.
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022, with the World Championship finishing in April 2023. As with every Candidates tournament since 2013, it was a double round-robin tournament.
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