The Field
Liren Ding
Liren Ding is an Chinese chess Grandmaster. Ding is the highest rated Chinese player ever. He is the first Chinese player to cross 2800. At the age of 16, he became the youngest person ever to win the title of Chinese Champion. He has since won this title twice more in both 2011 and 2012. In the 2015 Tata Steel Tournament, Ding finished in a tie for second place just half a point behind Magnus Carlsen. He has represented China in four Olympiads from 2012 - 2018, leading the team to victory in 2018 and winning individual medals on first board and for showing the highest performance in the entire Olympiad. He also won team gold in the 2015 World Team Championship. Ding Liren is the one of the most solid players, holding the record at the top level for the longest undefeated streak, 100 games with 29 wins and 71 draws. His most recent achievements include winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup, 2019 Grand Chess Tour, and qualifying for 2022 FIDE Candidates.
Alireza Firouzja
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian-French chess player. He won the Iranian Chess Championship at the age of 12 and earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 14. Firouzja won the Iranian Chess Championship for a second time in 2019, and competed in the World Team Chess Championship with Iran. In 2021, Firouzja became a French citizen and started to play under the French chess federation. He later won the 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, qualifying for the Candidates Tournament 2022.
Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana is an American chess Grandmaster. He played for the United States until 2005, then transferred his chess federation affiliation to Italy. While playing for Italy, Caruana was a four time Italian Champion, winning the championship in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011. In the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, Caruana won with a score of 8.5/10 and a performance of over 3000, achieving a FIDE rating of 2844, becoming the third highest-rated player in history. In 2015, Caruana transferred back to the United States, and then won the 2016 U.S Championship. Caruana continued his stellar career with wins in 2017 London Chess Classic, 2018 Grenke Chess Classic, and tying for first in 2018 Sinquefield Cup. Also in 2018, Caruana won the Candidates tournament, becoming the first American to challenge the World Champion since Bobby Fischer. After drawing all classical games, Caruana lost the match in rapid tiebreaks. He won the 2020 Tata Steel Masters, and placed second in the 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss, qualifying him for the 2022 Candidates Tournament. Caruana is currently the #1 American player.
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Nepomniachtchi is an Russian chess Grandmaster. He earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 17 in 2007 and won the prestigious Aeroflot Open the next year, thus qualifying to 2008 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. In 2010 he won the European individual championship as well as the Russian Superfinal after defeating Sergey Karjakin in a play off. He has won two silver medals in World Rapid Championships and one in World Blitz Championship. He won the 2018 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting and was part of the Russian team which won the 2019 World Team Championship. In April 2021, Nepomniatchi won the 2020/2021 Candidates tournament with 8.5/14 points, qualifying him to play for the 2021 world championship.
Richard Rapport
Richard Rapport is a Hungarian chess grandmaster who earned his title at the tender age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days. He is currently the top rated player in Hungary and was rated as the number 1 junior in the world before he graduated to the senior ranks in December 2016. Then in 2017, he won the Hungarian Chess Championship. Rapport's latest achievement is winning the second leg of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, qualifying him for the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster. Nakamura is a 5 time U.S. Chess Champion, winning the tournament in 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2019. He has represented the United States at six Chess Olympiads, winning two team bronze medals and the first team gold in 40 years at the 2016 Olympiad. In May 2014, when FIDE began publishing its official rapid and blitz chess ratings, Nakamura was ranked number one in the world on both lists. He has also placed first in the Gibraltar Chess Festival 3 times: 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2018, he displayed a dominating performance in the Grand Chess Tour, winning the Paris GCT, Saint louis Rapid & Blitz, as well as the entire 2018 tour. As chess moved online in 2020, Nakamura became the most popular chess streamer in the world, and was an integral part of expanding the popularity of chess online. In the same year, he tied for first place in the 2020 Champion’s Showdown: Chess 9LX. In 2021, when chess started to return to over-the-board, Nakamura participated in many top level tournaments, and winning the 2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. Most recently, Nakamura won the first leg of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, and qualified for the 2022 FIDE Candidates.
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov is an Azerbaijan chess Grandmaster. He earned the title of Grandmaster in March, 2001 at the age of 14. In 2003, Radjabov gained international attention after beating the then world No. 1 Garry Kasparov in the Linares tournament, followed by victories over former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov all in the same year. He has twice competed at the Candidates Tournament, in 2011 and 2013, and qualified for the 2020 edition. He won the European Team Chess Championship with Azerbaijan in 2009, 2013 and 2017. His major individual achievements include joint first place in the 2007 Corus tournament, winning the 2008 Elista Grand Prix, 2017 Geneva Grand Prix, 2019 FIDE World Cup and 2021 Airthings Masters.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Jan-Krzysztof Duda is a Polish chess Grandmaster. He gained international attention as a youth after winning the 2014 European Rapid Championship and taking silver in the European Blitz Championship. In 2016, Duda was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit from the President of Poland for his achievements in chess. He continued his chess success by winning the 2018 Polish Chess Championship, and finishing second in the 2018 World Blitz Chess Championship. Duda’s most notable achievement is winning the 2021 Chess World Cup, qualifying him for the 2022 Candidates Tournament.