One of the oldest sports in history is chess. It took days to begin and weeks to end. This game is among the best things ever in terms of thrill and suspense.
A great chess player must be composed and possess incredible strategic abilities. He or she must predict future actions and make plans for them accordingly.
These individuals are the top chess players to date. They have been discovered to possess some of the world’s most brilliant minds.
There is no doubting that chess is a mind game and that very few individuals are proficient at it. It is one of the most played games in India, though.
One day is all it takes to learn this game, but a lifetime to master it. Even if someone is a grandmaster, one mistake will ruin the entire game.
This is chess’s might. A chess game can be won or lost with just one move. These people never cease to amaze us since they are fully aware of that circumstance.
Here is the list of top 10 best chess player in the world.
10. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, a French chess grandmaster and the current World Blitz Chess Champion, was born on October 21, 1990.
He is frequently known by his initials, MVL. Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest ranked player in history with a top rating of 2819.
How did the career of the world champion begin?
Chess prodigy Vachier-Lagrave, just 14 years old, attained the title of grandmaster in 2005. Vachier-Lagrave won the French Chess Championship in 2007 and the Biel Grandmaster Tournament and the World Junior Chess Championship in 2009.
In 2011 and 2012, he repeated as French Chess Champion. In 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, he won the Biel Grandmaster Tournament. Vachier-Lagrave competed in the 2020–21 Candidates Tournament and finished second while winning the Sinquefield Cup in 2017 and 2021.
Vachier-Lagrave excels not just in traditional time controls but also in quick and blitz chess. Maxime was ranked fourth on both the FIDE rapid and blitz lists as of August 2021.
Vachier-Lagrave represented France at both the European Team Chess Championship and the Chess Olympiad.
What are the major achievements of Vachier-Lagrave in the chess world?
The major achievements of Vachier-Lagrave in the chess world are as follows :-
- 2009: 9th-16th at the Chess World Championship 2009.
- 2013: Semifinalist at the Chess World Championship 2013.
- 2014–2015
- 4th-7th place at the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 stage in Tashkent.
- Finished 15th (out of 16 participants) in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, one of the qualifying methods of the 2016 World Chess Championship cycle.
- 5th-8th (quarterfinalist) at the Chess World Championship 2015.
- 2017:
- Winner of the Sharjah Grand Prix (2017), with 5.5 points out of 9.
- Finished sixth (out of 24 participants) in the FIDE Grand Prix 2017
- Semifinalist at the Chess World Cup 2017, after losing the armageddon tiebreak to Levon Aronian, thus narrowly missing qualification to the Candidates Tournament 2018.
- 2019:
- Third place at the Chess World Cup 2019 in Khanty-Mansiysk.
- Finished third (out of 21 participants) in the FIDE Grand Prix 2019.
- Second place (finalist) at the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 stage in Riga.
- Semifinalist at the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 stage in Hamburg.
- Semifinalist at the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 stage in Jerusalem.
- 2021: 9th-16th at the Chess World Cup 2021.
- 2022:
- Semifinalist at the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 stage in Belgrade.
9. Sergey Karjakin
Grandmaster of chess Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin was born in Russia on January 12, 1990. (formerly representing Ukraine).
He was a chess prodigy who held the world record for being the youngest grandmaster ever until it was eventually surpassed by Abhimanyu Mishra.
He was 12 years and 7 months old when he met the requirements for the title.
How did Karjakin rise through the ranks?
Karjakin was the world U12 chess champion in 2001 after winning the European U10 Chess Championship in 1999.
At the age of 11, he received the title of International Master, and in 2003, he received the title of Grandmaster.
At the 2004 Chess Olympiad, he represented Ukraine and won both team and individual gold. Before moving to Russia, he represented Ukraine in two additional Chess Olympiads and won the Corus Chess Tournament in 2009.
Since then, he has competed in the Chess Olympiad five times for Russia, taking home the individual gold in 2010. In 2013 and 2019, he and Russia won the World Team Chess Championship gold medal.
8. Anish Giri
Anish Kumar Giri, a Dutch chess grandmaster of Russian descent, was born on June 28, 1994. He was a prodigy in the game of chess and reached Grandmaster status at the age of 14 years, 7 months, and 2 days. He received the title in 2009 from FIDE.
What are the achievements of Anish?
Giri won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010 and has won the Dutch championship four times (in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015). He has competed in five chess Olympiads on behalf of the Netherlands (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018).
Additionally, he took first place in several prestigious international competitions, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, the 2017 Reykjavik Open, the 2015 London Chess Classic, and the 2018 Wijk aan Zee.
His victory at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters in 2019—which some consider to be his first supertournament triumph and was backed by the Dutch Chess Federation—was clear first (KNSB).
What is the ranking of Anish among other chess players in the world?
Anish Giri, who left Russia in 2009, is the top-ranked player in the Netherlands as of August 2021.
In 2021 Wijk aan Zee, Giri and fellow Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest shared first place, but Giri fell short of van Foreest in the armageddon round after the two playoff blitz games ended in draws.
7. Wesley So
Wesley Barbossa So, a Filipino-American chess grandmaster who was born on October 9, 1993, is the first, longest-reigning, and former World Fischer Random Chess Champion as well as a three-time U.S. champion. Champion of chess (in 2017, 2020, and 2021).
Additionally, he has won three Philippine Chess Championships. He had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in history, and he was ranked second in the world according to the FIDE rating list from March 2017.
So, a former chess prodigy, broke Magnus Carlsen’s record for the youngest player to surpass a 2600 Elo rating in October 2008.
Since then, John M. Burke has broken this record. So reached 2700 in the beginning of 2013 and 2800 in the beginning of 2017 to become the 11th player to do so.
What are the achievements of So?
So represented the Philippines until 2014, when he moved to the US. He won the 2016 Grand Chess Tour championship after winning the Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic, the 2017 Tata Steel Masters, and the 2015 Bilbao Chess Masters.
At the 42nd Chess Olympiad, he played for the US on board 3, winning both team and individual gold.
So stated that chess960 is his preferred variant of the game in 2019.
In the following year, So won the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship by defeating Carlsen 1312-212 on November 2, 2019, to become the first-ever official Fischer Random world champion.
So is one of the undisputed world champion among other chess players in the world. His performance and calmness in world championship matches helped him win the world champion title. The chess master has a long way to go.
6. Hikara Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura, a Japanese-American chess grandmaster, Twitch streamer, and five-time U.S. champion, was born on December 9, 1987.
Is Nakamura the present reigning world champion?
He is the World Fischer Random Chess Champion and the current world chess champion. He was a chess prodigy who became the youngest American Grandmaster at age 15 at that time.
Nakamura fought hard for the world championship match and the world championship title as compared to other world champions and at the world championship match, he held his nerve against the world champions and soon won the world championship title.
In addition to representing the United States at five Chess Olympiads, Nakamura won the 2011 Tata Steel Chess Tournament Group A and two team bronze medals. Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history with a peak rating of 2816.
When FIDE started issuing official quick and blitz chess ratings in May 2014, Nakamura held the top spot on both lists.
How did the career of Nakamura start along with other best chess players in the world?
When he defeated Jay Bonin at the Marshall Chess Club at the age of 10, he made history as the youngest American to defeat an International Master.
Also at age 10, Nakamura broke Vinay Bhat’s record for the youngest player to receive the United States Chess Federation’s title of “chess master” (Nakamura’s record remained until 2008, when Nicholas Nip received the title at the age of 9 years and 11 months).
Nakamura received the Laura Aspis Prize in 1999, which is granted each year to the best player under 13 with a USCF rating.
At the age of 15 years and 79 days in 2003, Nakamura cemented his status as a chess prodigy by shattering records by becoming the nation’s youngest grandmaster.
What are the records established by World chess champion Nakamura?
Nakamura has set several “youngest-ever” records in U.S. chess history, including:-
- Youngest to defeat an International Master in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 0 months); later surpassed by Praveen Balakrishnan at 9 years 29 days, and then by Awonder Liang at 8 years 118 days;
- Youngest to defeat a Grandmaster in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 117 days); later surpassed by Fabiano Caruana at 10 years, 61 days; then surpassed by Awonder Liang at 9 years 112 days;
- Youngest International Master (13 years, 2 months); later surpassed by Ray Robson at 13 years, 1 month, by Samuel Sevian at 12 years, 10 months, and then by Awonder Liang at 12 years, 7 months and 6 days old
5. Fabiano Caruana
Grandmaster of chess Fabiano Luigi Caruana was born in America on July 30, 1992, of Italian descent. Chess prodigy Caruana attained grandmaster status at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days, making him the youngest grandmaster in Italian and American history at the time.
When did Caruana get his title of Grandmaster?
Caruana, who was born in Miami to Italian parents, was raised in Brooklyn’s Park Slope. He represented the United States up until 2005, when he switched to representing Italy’s national federation.
He achieved his grandmaster status in 2007 and won the Italian Chess Championship for the first time that year. He repeated this achievement in 2008, 2010, and 2011.
In 2012, 2014, and 2015, he prevailed at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Caruana also won the Sinquefield Cup in 2014, obtaining the best performance rating in history at the top level of 3098.
He later raised this rating to 2844, moving up to third place all-time in terms of player rankings. In 2015, he relocated back to the country.
What are the achievements of Caruana?
Caruana qualified for the 2016 Candidates Tournament after winning the FIDE Grand Prix in 2014–15, where he finished second to Sergey Karjakin.
He has won the US Chess Championship twice, in 2016 and in 2022. He also played for the US on board one in the 42nd Chess Olympiad, where the team took home gold and the individual took home bronze.
He triumphed at the 2017 London Chess Classic. Since Bobby Fischer in 1972, Caruana is the first American to contend for the uncontested World Chess Championship after winning the Candidates Tournament in 2018.
He won the 5th Grenke Chess Classic, the 6th Norway Chess, and shared first place in the 6th Sinquefield Cup prior to the title match.
Caruana drew each of the twelve classical games before falling to Magnus Carlsen in the fast tiebreaks.
4. Bobby fischer
Robert James Fischer, an American grandmaster in chess and the eleventh World Chess Champion, lived from March 9, 1943, to January 17, 2008.
How did Bobby fischer rise through the ranks?
He was a chess prodigy who at the age of 14 won his first of a record-setting eight US Championships. He was the only player to ever win the competition with a perfect score of 11-0, which he achieved in 1964.
Fischer won 6-0 victories in his matches against Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen to qualify for the 1972 World Championship. Fischer defeated Tigran Petrosian in a subsequent qualifying round before defeating Boris Spassky of the USSR in the title match in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The match garnered greater international attention than any other chess championship before or subsequently because it was marketed as a Cold War showdown between the US and USSR.
Why is bobby fischer among the best chess players in the world?
Fischer gave chess a number of enduring contributions. His 1969 publication, My 60 Memorable Games, is recognised as foundational chess literature.
He received a patent for a modified chess timing system in the 1990s that adds a time increment after every move; this method is now widely used in elite tournament and match play.
Additionally, he created Fischer random chess, usually referred to as Chess960, a variation of chess in which the starting positions of the pieces are randomly selected from among 960 possible positions.
Since at least the 1960s, Fischer has espoused antisemitism, which was a key subject in both his public and private remarks.
Fischer also denied the Holocaust. On the basis of his strong beliefs and odd behaviour, there has been a great deal of discussion and speculation about his psychological condition.
Did Bobby fischer drop out of school to focus more on chess?
By the time he reached the fourth grade, Fischer had attended six different schools due to his chess obsession taking precedence over academics.
In 1952, Regina secured Bobby a scholarship to Brooklyn Community Woodward on the basis of his chess prowess and “astronomically high IQ.”
Later, Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School alongside Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand. His performance at chess earned him a gold medal from the school’s student council in 1959.
When Fischer became 16, the earliest age he could legally do so, he left high school. Ralph Ginzburg subsequently heard him say, “You don’t learn anything at school.”
3. Garry kasparov
Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kimovich Kasparov, born on April 13, 1963, is also a writer, political activist, pundit, and former world chess champion.
His greatest rating of 2851, attained in 1999, stood as the best ever until Magnus Carlsen overtook it in 2013.
Kasparov held the top spot in the world for a record 255 months throughout his career, from 1984 until his retirement in 2005. Kasparov also holds records for the number of Chess Oscars (11) and consecutive professional tournament victories (15).
What are the achievements of Garry kasparov?
In 1985, at the age of 22, Kasparov defeated reigning champion Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest-ever undisputed World Chess Champion.
He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a disagreement with FIDE prompted him to found the Professional Chess Association, a rival organisation.
When he fell against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a well reported match in 1997, he made history by becoming the first world champion to lose a match to a machine under regular time constraints.
The “Classical” World Chess Championship was still in his possession until he was defeated by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.
He continued to win matches despite dropping the crown, and in 2005, when he ended his career as a professional chess player, he held the top rating in the world.
What are the records established by Garry kasparov?
For nine years, Kasparov competed in and won every super-tournament he entered, in addition to his series of five straight encounters versus Anatoly Karpov.
His lone loss during this time span was in the World Chess Championship of 1984 against the reigning champion Karpov, where the 21-year-old Kasparov was down (5, +3 = 40) when the match was unexpectedly called off.
Later in his career, Kasparov enjoyed another protracted run of victories in super tournaments.
- Frunze 1981, USSR Championship, 12½/17, tie for 1st;
- Bugojno 1982, 9½/13, 1st;
- Moscow 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;
- Nikšić 1983, 11/14, 1st;
- Brussels OHRA 1986, 7½/10, 1st;
- Brussels SWIFT 1987, 8½/11, tie for 1st;
- Amsterdam Optiebeurs 1988, 9/12, 1st;
- Belfort (World Cup) 1988, 11½/15, 1st;
- Moscow 1988, USSR Championship, 11½/17, tie for 1st;
- Reykjavík (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;
- Barcelona (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, tie for 1st;
- Skellefteå (World Cup) 1989, 9½/15, tie for 1st;
- Tilburg 1989, 12/14, 1st;
- Belgrade (Investbank) 1989, 9½/11, 1st;
- Linares 1990, 8/11, 1st.
- Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1999, 10/13, 1st;
- Linares 1999, 10½/14, 1st;
- Sarajevo 1999, 7/9, 1st;
- Wijk aan Zee Corus 2000, 9½/13, 1st;
- Linares 2000, 6/10, tie for 1st;
- Sarajevo 2000, 8½/11, 1st;
- Wijk aan Zee Corus 2001, 9/13, 1st;
- Linares 2001, 7.5/10, 1st;
- Astana 2001, 7/10, 1st;
- Linares 2002, 8/12, 1st.
2. Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand, an Indian grandmaster and former five-time World Chess Champion, was born on December 11, 1969.
He was one of the few players to attain an Elo rating of 2800, a record he first accomplished in 2006, and he was the first grandmaster from India in 1988. He was chosen to serve as FIDE’s vice president in 2022.
Why is Viswanathan anand considered as the greatest indian chess player?
After Kramnik, Topalov, and Garry Kasparov, Anand became the fourth player in history to surpass the 2800 Elo threshold on the FIDE rating list in April 2006. He held the top spot for 21 months, which is the sixth-longest stretch in history.
Anand gained the nickname “Lightning Kid” early in his career in the 1980s due to his lightning-quick playing pace as a child.
Since then, he has evolved into a universal player, and many people believe he is the finest player of his generation at quick chess.
He won the World Blitz Cup in 2000, the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in 2003 and 2017, as well as a number of other prestigious rapid and blitz competitions.
India’s top athletic honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, was given to Anand for the first time in 1991–1992. He became the first athlete to get the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour in India, in 2007.
What did the greats say Viswanathan anand?
Anand is the only player to have won the world chess championship in tournament, match, knockout, and quick time restrictions, according to Lubomir Kavalek, who calls Anand the most adaptable world champion ever.
In an interview from 2011, Kramnik described Anand as follows: “”I think that in terms of play Anand is in no way weaker than Kasparov but he’s just a little lazy, relaxed, and only focuses on matches,” the author said of Kasparov.
“I always considered him to be a colossal talent, one of the greatest in the entire history of chess.” He has improved to the point where we can now rank him among the top chess players in the last 5–6 years.”
When discussing his World Chess Championship match versus Anand in 2008 in an interview in 2020, Kramnik mentioned:
“Vishy is such a great player and he was in a fantastic form. He was such a powerful force that I do not know who could have stopped him then. Even Kasparov could not have managed it.”
1. Magnus carlsen – Best chess player in the world
The current five-time World Chess Champion is Norwegian grandmaster Sven Magnus En Carlsen, who was born on 30 November 1990.
Additionally, he has won the world championships in both blitz and rapid chess five times each. Since July 1, 2011, Carlsen has been ranked first in the FIDE global chess rankings, second only to Garry Kasparov in terms of the amount of time he has stayed at that position.
The highest rating ever recorded is his top rating of 2882. In elite classical chess, he also holds the record for the longest unbroken run.
When did Magnus carlsen come into public eyes?
A chess prodigy, Carlsen finished first in the C group of the Corus chess tournament shortly after he turned 13 and gained the title of grandmaster a few months later.
He won the Norwegian Chess Championship at the age of 15, and at the age of 17, he tied for first place in the elite group at Corus.
He was the youngest person to achieve it at age 18 and surpassed a rating of 2800. The youngest player ever to accomplish so, he attained No. 1 in the FIDE world rankings in 2010 at the age of 19.
In 2013, Carlsen defeated Viswanathan Anand to win the title of World Chess Champion. He defeated Anand the next year to defend his championship and went on to win the World Blitz Championship and World Rapid Championship in 2014, becoming the first player to hold all three titles at once.
He replicated this feat in 2019. In 2016, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Sergey Karjakin were the opponents he faced when defending his classical world championship. In 2023, Carlsen will not play Nepomniachtchi to defend his championship.
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