TOP CHESS PLAYERS SEPTEMBER 2025 & WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS
List of the chess grandmasters and countries which have the highest FIDEchess ratings (Elo)
CHESS PLAYERS MEN TOP TEN
chess grandmasters |
| | NAME | COUNTRY | RATING |
| 1 |  Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
2839 |
| 2 |  Nakamura, Hikaru |
USA |
2807 |
| 3 | Caruana, Fabiano |
USA |
2789 |
| 4 | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2785 |
| 5 | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2771 |
| 6 | Gukesh D | IND | 2767 |
| 7 | So, Wesley | USA | 2756 |
| 8 | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2754 |
| 9 | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2753 |
| 10 | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2751 |
| more List of the top 30 players |
CHESS PLAYERS WOMEN TOP TEN
chess grandmasters & masters |
| | NAME | COUNTRY | RATING |
| 1 |  Hou, Yifan | CHN | 2609 |
| 2 | Ju, Wenjun | CHN | 2570 |
| 3 | Lei, Tingjie | CHN | 2565 |
| 4 | Zhu, Jiner | CHN | 2548 |
| 5 | Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2535 |
| 6 | Muzychuk, Anna | UKR | 2535 |
| 7 | Tan, Zhongyi | CHN | 2531 |
| 8 | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | RUS | 2528 |
| 9 | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | KAZ | 2505 |
| 10 | Lagno, Kateryna | RUS | 2505 |
COUNTRIES TOP TEN
Average rating of top 10 players
|
| | | COUNTRY | AVERAGE |
| 1 |
| USA |
2730 |
| 2 |  | India | 2721 |
| 3 | | China | 2671 |
| 4 |  | Russia | 2651 |
| 5 |  | Germany | 2634 |
| 6 |  | France | 2627 |
| 7 |  | Ukraine | 2627 |
| 8 |  | Azerbaijan | 2623 |
| 9 |  | Spain | 2617 |
| 10 |  | Hungary | 2616 |
WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS MENChess grand masters
|
| NAME | YEAR | COUNTRY |
| Wilhelm Steinitz | 1886–1894 | Austria/USA |
| Emanuel Lasker | 1894–1921 | Germany |
| José Raúl Capablanca | 1921–1927 | Cuba |
| Alexander Alekhine | 1927–1935 | Russia/France |
| Max Euwe | 1935-1937 | Netherlands |
| Alexander Alekhine | 1937–1946 | France |
| Mikhail Botvinnik | 1948–1957 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Vasily Smyslov | 1957–1958 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Mikhail Botvinnik | 1958–1960 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Mikhail Tal | 1960–1961 | Soviet Union (Latvia) |
| Mikhail Botvinnik | 1961–1963 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Tigran Petrosian | 1963–1969 | Soviet Union (Armenia) |
| Boris Spassky | 1969–1972 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Robert J Fischer | 1972–1975 | United States |
|
Anatoly Karpov | 1975–1985 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Garry Kasparov | 1985–1993 | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| FIDE WORLD CHAMPIONS MEN AFTER 1993 |
| Anatoly Karpov | 1993–1999 | Russia |
| Alexander Khalifman | 1999–2000 | Russia |
| Viswanathan Anand | 2000–2002 | India |
| Ruslan Ponomariov | 2002–2004 | Ukraine |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2004–2005 | Uzbekistan |
| Veselin Topalov | 2005–2006 | Bulgaria |
| UNIFIED CHESS CHAMPIONS MEN (FIDE & PCA) |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2006–2007 | Russia |
| Viswanathan Anand | 2007–2013 | India |
| Magnus Carlsen | 2013–2023 | Norway |
| Ding Liren | 2023–2024 | China |
| Gukesh | 2024– | India |
| PROFESSIONAL CHESS ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONS 1993 |
| Garry Kasparov | 1993–2000 | Russia |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2000–2006 | Russia |
WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS WOMEN |
| NAME | YEAR | COUNTRY |
| Vera Menchik | 1927–1944 | United Kingdom |
| Ludmilla Rudenko | 1950–1953 | Soviet Union |
| Elisabeth Bikova | 1953–1956 | Soviet Union |
| Olga Rubzowa | 1956–1958 | Soviet Union |
| Elisabeth Bikova | 1958–1962 | Soviet Union |
| Nona Gaprindashvili | 1962–1978 | Georgia |
| Maya Chiburdanidze | 1978–1991 | Georgia |
| Xie Jun | 1991–1996 | China |
| Susan Polgar | 1996–1999 | Hungary |
| Xie Jun | 1999–2001 | China |
| Zhu Chen | 2001–2004 | China |
| Antoaneta Stefanova | 2004–2006 | Bulgaria |
| Xu Yuhua | 2006-2008 | China |
| Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2008-2010 | Russia |
| Yifan Hou | 2010-2012 | China |
| Anna Ushenina | 2012-2013 | Ukraine |
| Yifan Hou | 2013-2015 | China |
| Muzychuk Maria | 2015-2016 | Ukraine |
| Yifan Hou | 2016 - 2017 | China |
| Zhongyi Tan | 2017-2018 | China |
| Wenjun Ju | 2018- | China |
