Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. He is the world #1 ranked player. He is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world, while holding the record for longest consecutive reign. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.
The Linares International Chess Tournament was an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, which takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of Andalusia, Spain, in which it was held. It is sometimes described as the Wimbledon of chess, being one of the strongest annual tournaments held on the de facto chess tour, along with the "Tata Steel", Tal Memorial and Dortmund events.
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess grandmaster.
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue.
Levon Grigori Aronian is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. He is a former world rapid and blitz champion and has held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth highest-rated player in history.
Mtel Masters was an annual super-GM chess tournament held between 2005 and 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria, sponsored and organized by the Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. The tournament was held as a double round-robin at the five-star Grand Hotel Sofia.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
Silvio Danailov is a former Bulgarian chess player and International Master. He was a manager and coach of the Bulgarian men's national chess team (1993-2000) and manager and coach of two former FIDE world chess champions, GM Veselin Topalov (BUL) and GM Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR).
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning three-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.
Radosław Wojtaszek is a Polish chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Polish champion.
Below is a list of events in chess during the year 2008, and a list of the top ten players during that year:
The FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 was a series of six chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification for the World Chess Championship 2012. It was administered by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. The event was won by Levon Aronian, with Teimour Radjabov second and Alexander Grischuk third.
Erwin l'Ami is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in 2005, and has reached a peak rating of 2651. l'Ami has represented the Netherlands at seven Chess Olympiads.
The Grand Slam Chess Association was a series of annual chess tournaments since 2007 till 2012.
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is an annual chess tournament which between 2008-12 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters continued as an annual invitational event until 2016.
Lu Shanglei is a Chinese chess grandmaster and 2014 World Junior Chess Champion.
Norway Chess is an annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, including seven of the ten highest rated players in the world per the May 2013 FIDE World Rankings. It was won by Sergey Karjakin, with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura tied for second place. Norway Chess 2015 took place in mid-June 2015 and was a part of the inaugural Grand Chess Tour. The tournament has since decided to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour.
The Sinquefield Cup is an annual, closed chess tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, honoring Rex Sinquefield and his wife Jeanne, the founders of the Saint Louis Chess Club. Since 2015, the Sinquefield Cup has been a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)
Levon Aronian (Armenia)
Bu Xiangzhi (China)
Peter Svidler (Russia)
Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia)
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)
Peter Leko (Hungary)
Viswanathan Anand (India)
Étienne Bacrot (France)
