Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004 and was the youngest holder of the title at the age of 18 years, 3 months and 12 days, though the title was split at the time. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 2011.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is a former World Blitz Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, he is the seventh-highest rated player in history.
Daniel Naroditsky often referred to as Danya, is an American chess grandmaster, author, and commentator.
Dariusz Świercz is a Polish-American chess player playing for the United States. He was the youngest Polish player of all time to qualify for the title Grandmaster; he was 14 years and seven months when he achieved this title in 2009. In 2018 he switched his national federation to the United States.
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.
Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina is a Russian chess grandmaster. She is the two-time Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, has won the Women's European Individual Chess Championship three times, and has won the Russian Women's Championship five times. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012, 2014, at the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and at the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017.
Lu Shanglei is a Chinese chess grandmaster and 2014 World Junior Chess Champion.
Vladimir Vasilyevich Fedoseev is a Russian chess grandmaster playing for Slovenia. He competed in the Chess World Cup in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2023.
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.
Vasily Viktorovich Papin is a Russian chess Grandmaster.
Federico Perez Ponsa is an Argentine chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2011.
Andrew Tang is an American chess grandmaster. He is also a popular streamer, known online for his speed chess skills especially in bullet, hyperbullet, and ultrabullet time controls as well as for playing speed chess blindfolded.
Tykhon Cherniaiev is a Ukrainian chess prodigy.
Arjun Erigaisi is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days. In September 2024 he became India's top rated player, and in December 2024 he achieved his peak rating of 2801 which makes him the fifteenth-highest rated player in history and second Indian ever to cross the 2800 threshold after Viswanathan Anand.
Maria Efimenko, née Tantsiura, is a Ukrainian chess player who has held the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM) since 2013.
Hans Moke Niemann is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He had a peak global ranking of No. 16 in September 2024.
Robert Andrew Hungaski is an American-Argentine chess player and coach. He was awarded the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2013.
Jack Mizzi is a Maltese chess player. He was born on the 17 May 2006 in Malta. Mizzi is the 2024 Malta Chess Champion, 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.
Sofia Blokhin is an Estonian chess player who holds the title of Woman FIDE Master. She is the reigning World Rapid Champion in the G18 age group, as well as the two-time European Rapid Champion in the G16 and G18 categories. In 2019 she won the Estonian Women Chess Championship.
