Alexei Shirov is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.
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.
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.
Michał Krasenkow is a Polish chess grandmaster, chess trainer and writer. He is one of the strongest Polish chess players since World War II. His playing style is aggressive and he has won many "best game" awards.
Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev is a Russian-Canadian chess player, trainer, and writer. Awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the world in the international rankings in 1992 and again in 2003, with an Elo rating of 2739.
Vladimir Malakhov is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the 2009 World Team Chess Championship.
Alexey Stepanovich Suetin was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was the World Senior Chess Champion from 1996 to 1997.
Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was Russian champion in 2001 and European champion in 2014.
Vadim Zvjaginsev is a Russian chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1994. He played for the gold medal-winning Russian team in the 1997 World Team Chess Championship and in the 1998 Chess Olympiad.
Farrukh Amonatov is a Tajikistani chess grandmaster. Along with Magaram Magomedov, they are the only Grandmasters of Tajikistan. Amonatov is also the winner of many international tournaments and recently won the Mumbai Mayors Cup 2019. Despite living and training in Moscow, he represents Tajikistan in international tournaments. Amonatov is the official coach of the Russian Juniors chess team and conducts chess camps with talented juniors from all over the world.
Igor Vladimirovich Glek is a Russian chess player, trainer, writer and theorist. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Ashot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master (1997), chess theoretician and chess coach.
Igor Kurnosov was a Russian chess grandmaster.
Vladimir Vasilyevich Fedoseev is a Russian chess grandmaster playing for Slovenia. He competed in the Chess World Cup in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2023.
Vladislav Mikhailovich Artemiev is a Russian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2014. Artemiev is the 2019 European champion. He won the individual board performance gold medal as well as team gold medal at World Team Chess Championship 2019. He participated in Chess World Cup 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 where he was knocked out in the round of 16 by Sergey Karjakin.
Oganes Danielian was an Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1999.
Miron Naumovich Sher was a Soviet-born American chess player, who was awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 1992. Towards the end of the Soviet era, he began winning the open sections at international tournaments. In 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, Sher became a Russian citizen. In 1997, Sher, his wife, Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Alla Grinfeld (ru), and their son, Mikhail, who then was 14, emigrated to America and settled in Brooklyn. Sher went on to become a distinguished scholastic chess coach and clinician in New York and was instrumental in developing several internationally strong players, notably Fabiano Caruana, many times number two in the world, and Robert Hess, who at age 15, while attending Stuyvesant High School, became an international master and at 16, a grandmaster. Before immigrating, Sher had also coached a number of students around Europe, including Peter Heine Nielsen.
Sergey Borisovich Brilyov or Brilev is a Russian television journalist on the state-owned TV channel Rossiya.
Marina Manakov is a German chess Woman International Master of Russian origin who won Open German Women's Chess Championship (1992) and German Women's Chess Championship.
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