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The Evanston Township High School Chess Team had its best national performance in years at last weekends National High School Championships in Memphis. The 18 player team won two second place team trophies in the Under 1900 and Under 1600 sections, the second and third strongest of the tournaments six divisions.

ETHS players also won individual awards in four of the tournament sections. Elie Platnick defeated a National Master on his way to a 22nd place finish in the Championship section. Jonah Chen placed 11th in the Under 1900 section, Luca Zerega placed 28th in the Under 1600 section, and Peter Kezdy tied for first place (third on tiebreak) in the 232-player Unrated section.

Zerega was an alternate on the ETHS team at last years IHSA State Finals but improved play moved him up to board 7 on this years IHSA State team. Last weekends tournament results were his best yet, and the following game, from Round 5 (of 7), helped secure his teams second place finish and his individual award.

White: Luca Zerega, ETHS

Black: Raghavan Madabushi, Alabama

1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nc6 3d4 cxd4 4Nxd4 Nxd4?! Its better for black to play 4Bc5 to attack whites knight, or 4Nf6 to attack whites e-pawn.

5Qxd4 d6 6Nc3 Qf6 7Be3 Zerega could have played 7Qa4+ to avoid trading queens, but this move also gives white an advantage.

7Qxd4 8Bxd4 Be6

White to Move

9Nb5!? This move threatens Nxc7+, forking blacks king and rook.White could have played for a safer advantage with 9Nd5, 0-0-0 100-0-0, when white would occupy more space and have more active pieces than black.

9c5? Black should have defended the c-pawn by playing Kd7 or Kd8.

10Nc7+?! Kd8 White misses a complicated sequence of moves that would have given him a winning advantage. After 10Nxd6+ Bxd6 11Bxg7, white temporarily wins a rook and two pawns in exchange for his knight. Now black can play 11f6 to trap whites bishop, but white stays on top with 12Bxh8 Kf7 13Be2 Ne7 14Bh5+ Ng6 15f4! Rxh8 16f5. White loses his bishop but wins blacks bishop or knight.

White to Move

11Nxa8?! White wins blacks rook but loses a bishop, and his knight is trapped on a8.It was safer to play 12Nxe6+ fxe6 13Bc3, when whites two bishops are more active than blacks bishop and knight.

11cxd4 120-0-0 Kc8 13Rxd4 Kb8 14 Bc4 Kxa8?! Black should have played Be7 or Ne7 before placing his king in the corner or the board. Now white can take advantage of the black kings position by playing 15e5! If black captures the e5 pawn, white plays Rd8+, which leads to checkmate.

15Bd5?! Nf6? 16Bxe6 fxe6

White to Move

17e5! White now gains a passed pawn, since black gets checkmated if he captures the pawn on e5.

17Nd7 18exd6 g6 19Re1 e5 20Rd3 Kb8 21c4 White plans to support his passed d-pawn. White has an even stronger, but hard to find, plan involving his d3 rook 21Rf3 Kc8 22Rc3+! Kb8 23Kb1! Rg8 24f4, threatening blacks e-pawn.

21Bg7 22b4 Rc8 23Rc3

Black to Move

23Bf8? A better defense for black is 23b6 to restrain whites c-pawn.

24Rd1?! White should immediately play c5.

24Rc6?! 25c5 Bh6+?! 26Kc2 Bg5 27Kb3 b6 Blacks delay in playing b6 has allowed white to activate his king, giving him a decisive advantage. Zerega now seals his win with strong endgame play.

White to Move

28cxb6 Rxc3+ 29Kxc3 axb6?! 29Nxb6 would prevent whites next king move, but white can still penetrate blacks defenses by playing Kd3 and Ke4.

30Kc4 Kc8 31a4 Bd8 32Kb5 Kb7 33a5 bxa5 34bxa5 Nb8 35Rd5 h6 36Rxe5 Bxa5 37Re7+ Kc8 38d7+ Kd8 39Re8+ Kxd7 40Rxb8 Winning blacks knight moves white closer to victory.

40Bc7 41Rh8 h5 42h3 Ke6 43Rf8 Be5 44Kc6 Bf6

White to Move

45Ra8 White could also have played 45Rxf6+ Kxf6 46Kd6 to simplify into a winning king and pawn endgame.

45h4 46Ra4 g5 47g3 hxg3 48fxg3 Be5 49g4 Bg3 50Kc5 Ke5 51Kc6 Bf2 52Ra5+ Kf4 53Rf5+! Kg3 54Rxg5 Kxh3 55Rg8 Kh4 and white went on to win. Black eventually has to give up his bishop to prevent whites pawn from queening.

White to Move

Link:
Rank and File | ETHS teams finish second at High School Chess Nationals - Evanston RoundTable

Welcome to the second Chess.com Club of the Month article! This series gives our readers the chance to know a few of the incredible communities we have on Chess.com and learn more about what they do and who they are. It might even give you the inspiration to start your very own club or tips to take your current club to the next level.

We're pleased to announce that April's Club of the Month is Road to GM. With2,788 members at the time of this article, this club has been brimming with positive energy for over two years now:

Chess.com: What is your name and what is your role at your chess club?

Nightly-Knight: I'm Nightly-Knight, the organizer/overseer of events for Road to GM.

How would you describe your chess club?

"GM" in our case actually stands for "Great Mindset." We believe that when you're in possession of a truly great mindset, you're unbeatable. In our club we try to mingle learning, fun, and mindset into one big massive ball. The Great Mindset also includes the skill and self-belief you need to win, and the fun you have doing it.

Can you share the history of your club with our readers?

Road to GM began November 12, 2019, but its roots date back even further.

Back in 2019, you couldn't create a club without a membership. Since the creator of the club (joseph7505) was not an upgraded member, the club could not be formed. However, both myself and joseph7505 had staff roles in clubs and were gaining experience administrating them.

In August 2019,a friend of joseph7505's let him take control of a club he had made. This club, which was called Variant Pros, is considered the forefather of R2GM because it really taught us a lot about how to manage a club.

In November 2019, another friend gifted joseph7505 a membership, and Road to GM wassoon founded. We've been running the club together ever since, and nowon the verge of finally reaching 3,000 memberswe have an awesome team to help us!

What inspired you to take a leadership role in your chess club?

Creating live tournaments was the true reason that we wished to create a club in the first place back in 2019. Being able to host chess events was a glorious dream for us, and it has now become a reality with us hosting an average of 60 live tournaments each month.

Each tournament is diligently analyzed by staff, and points towards our all-star event, the Membership Race, are granted as a result.

Does your club meet in person? If so, where and when can prospective members find you? If not, when do you typically have events online?

Since Road to GM's members are spread out all over the world, we don't meet in person, but we do regularly host tournaments every day of the week at many different times each day.

We are also regularly holding our Mentor-Mentee Program, hosted by jg777chess. This is a free coaching program, and members get experience as they coach (and are coached by) other members at completely no cost.

What separates your chess club from other clubs?

We've been singled out in the past and noted as being one of the most positive clubs on the site, due to our constant support of our members.

The Road to GM community has been proud of being such a positive club. The admins are cheerful people who are dedicated to bringing chess to you. We have constant Daily Matches, frequent Vote Chess where the discussion level is awesome, and Multi-Club Arenas once or twice a week. On top of that, we host a plethora of live tournaments weekly. I don't know another club that has more tournaments than us.

What Chess.com tools do your members use the most?

Analyzing games plays an integral part of our culture at R2GM. We offer memberships to winners of our events, and through this we give them the ability to analyze even more.

We also play a lot of daily matches. At the beginning of the year, we made a goal of reaching number 500 on the leaderboard for daily matches by March 22, 2022. We were at number 763 at the time, so had to make up 263 places. Although we did not make the goal, we did manage to be number 583, which was almost a 200-place jump in only three months.

What advice would you give to clubs on Chess.com that are just starting out and would like to grow?

Don't start out by messaging every username you get your hands on. Start with 20 or so members you could get in your first week; 20 members are plenty to start. You can organize a star feature of your club, and you will be surprised how much it grows when you have fun things to do. The biggest tip in growing a club is to retain your members.

Thanks to Nightly-Knight and his fellow Road to GM members for providing us with their answers for this month's article. Make sure you check out their page on Chess.com!

If you'd like to nominate a Chess.com club for our next Club of the Month article, fill out the nomination form here.

See the original post:
Club of the Month: Road to GM - Chess.com

"At the end of the day there was little incentive," GM Hikaru Nakamurasaid about his quick draw against GM Wesley So in the final of the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix.Both players commented on it in an interview after the tournament, and Nakamura also posted his point of view on Reddit, providing a rare insight into the mind of top GMs regarding quick draws and incentives.

The second classical game of that Grand Prix final between Nakamura and So, played last Sunday, featured one of the well-known opening variations that can lead to a peaceful result right from the start.In this case, it was the Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez, named after the city where the players were playing their game.

The position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nbd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d5 10.exd6 Qxd6 after which the game quickly ended in a draw by move repetition:11.Qe4+ Qe6 12.Qd4 Qd6 13.Qe4+ Qe6 14.Qd4 Qd6.

This line has been used a lot at the top level recently, especially in online play. If you look into the database starting from 2020, there are 87 games where this line was played with at least one player rated 2700 or higher. In 82 of these games, the draw was agreed right away by move repetition. Only in five games, the white player avoided the repetition which led to four decisive games. Overall, it is safe to say thattop players may use this line to force a draw right from the start.

Nakamura himself was involved in almost half of these 87 games. He played it 20 times from the black side and 23 times from the white side. So was involved in 32 games, using it 12 times to draw as white, while with the black pieces he drew 19 times and even won one game.

Before the Berlin final last weekend, Nakamura and So drew 11 games, all online, between themselves using this variation. Nakamura was playing the white pieces six times; So had white five times.

It should be noted that from this sample of games since early 2020, 80 were played online. Two over-the-board games were rapid or blitz. The five classical games that saw this line were:

Seeing this quick draw in a classical game was quite rare, and prompted a journalist working for the Austrian chess magazine Schack-Aktiv to ask Nakamura if he doesn't think a player has a "responsibility" for spectators in Berlin who "paid money and sometimes came from far away."

In his direct response on camera, Nakamura said that the tournament format gave him little reason to play for more, especially since he had already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament by reaching the semifinals:

"I'll just answer it very simply. I think it's on World Chess and FIDE to have a better format. I think it's that simple. The fact is, if you look at the first event for example [also in Berlin, in February - PD], where I played with Levon [Aronian], there was a lot of tension, there were no quick draws. It's up to the organizers to come up with a format that makes sense. By the semifinals even, to be honest, I wasn't even studying chess because there was nothing really to do. I just show up and try to make some draws and that's that. Because, already, the main thing everybody is playing for is to qualify. I think you can say that it's on the players, but I could also say the other way. The first game, Wesley played something that objectively can lead to a draw instantly as well. I think it's on the organizers, not the players."

So, who was standing right next to Nakamura, gave his two cents as well:

"I must also add that that's the nature of the game; the majority of chess games really end in draws. If there is a way to eliminate draws and just have decisive results every single game, I must say I am all for that, but you must understand that as a professional chess player we see one tournament as a whole. It's our 13th day. We don't take it one game, one event, so basically we have another game the next day so you got to think of the tournament as a whole, you gotta preserve your energy, also you gotta prepare, sleep well. Also, I was thinking about yesterday: we're paid not for playing, we're paid based on our performance, so if I had lost yesterday then I wouldn't have been here and vice versa."

The interview with Nakamura and So. Video: World Chess.

The journalist then suggested that Nakamura (as White) chose to play the quick draw because he was also playing in the Chess.com Rapid Chess Championship later that day, but Nakamura denied that that was the reason:

"I would have made a quick draw anyway, even if there wasn't a tournament in the evening. I think some people will probably start talking about ratings again as well. The simple fact is that at the end of the day there is one rating that matters the most and that is the classical chess rating, not the rapid or the blitz rating. At this point, with nothing to play for, what are you gonna do? I was already very tired at that point."

In a post on Reddit, Nakamura clarified things a bit more. Here it is in full:

I will leave a comment here on this thread with some basic truths. Applicable to most top-level events.

Objectives:

1. Main goal of the Grand Prix/Tournament (qualify for candidates/win). Obviously decided a week ago.

2. Conserve classical rating if possible/no risk without anything on the line. Invitations are generally based off of rating so this is NOT insignificant.

3. We both played for something like 14 days in a row without a break. Being tired with little incentive is also what led to this.

I will end by stating that at the end of the day there was little incentive and if I'm being honest, nothing is going to change for anyone based on rapid/blitz ratings. However, you could miss out on invites if you lose points in classical on a random non-essential game. End of the day, the incentives for events/games as opposed to maintaining the classical rating isn't there. Unless prizes are 2xed or 3xed for otb tournaments, this is never going to change. There will always be situations with quick draws.

Also, most people don't seem to understand how rare/valuable new ideas are and to use it in such a situation makes zero sense for me with the candidates coming up, and Wesley would much rather use it in the America's Cup.

The variation in the Berlin Ruy Lopez is not the only line used by top grandmasters if they are happy with a draw playing white. Generally speaking, it happens from time to time that games end in a draw without a real fight. Many top tournaments have introduced rules where draw offers are not allowed before move 30 or 40, but these opening variations can side-step that because of the three-fold repetition rule.

Especially for events that are part of the world championship cycle, FIDE tends to be conservative with changing rules, and indeed, as So pointed out, draws are part of the game. Whether it's a big problem that top players draw games at a classical time control using a known variation, is something the chess community has to decide and up to organizers to deal with. A full ban on such variations is not expected to be implemented, if onlybecause players will find other ways to draw the game if both are happy with that result. If draws should be banned altogether is another story.

See more here:
Nakamura On Quick Draw With So: 'There Was Little Incentive' - Chess.com

"Ukraine is now on the frontline of the global war of freedom against tyranny," was one of several powerful quotes from GM Garry Kasparov in a TED Talk published on Tuesdaythe day before his 59th birthday today. The pro-democracy activist and human rights advocate, who retired from chess as the world number-one player in2005, predicted Russia's war in Ukraine rather accurately in his 2015 bookWinter is Coming.

Kasparov's TED Talk on the war in Ukraine.

The central theme in Kasparov's TED Talk is good and evil. He notes that he identified evil at an early age, when as a young chess star he had the privilege of traveling outside of the Soviet Union and to the West, to the other side of the iron curtain. "It was obvious to me very quickly that they were the free world and we were not, despite what Soviet propaganda told us."

Kasparov mentions that he got into "good trouble" for his criticism of his own country and his praise for America in a famous interview he gave to Playboy magazine in 1989. The following quote, taken from chesshistory.com, must have been what he was talking about. Now 33 years ago, Kasparov answered the question why chess was so popular in the Soviet Union:

"Because most of the time, theres nothing else to do in our country! Chess fits the Soviet Union perfectly. Its the simplest of sports. You dont need a special field or court for it. Just a chess set, pieces, and a quiet place in the park. Its the easiest way for people to have a little bit of enjoyment. And if you become a strong player, chess is one of the best ways for a Soviet citizen to improve his life, to get a better position and maybe raise his standard of living above the averagewhich is not so good, by the way."

Kasparov's early activism included his demand to play under the Russian flag instead of under the Soviet hammer and sickle in his 1990 world championship with GM Anatoly Karpov. That was a year before the USSR disintegrated. Until the present day, the difference in ideology between the two adversaries on the chessboard continues: as a member of the State Duma, Karpov is supporting the Russian government while Kasparov is strongly opposing it.

Since the day Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Kasparov is being taken much more seriously by mainstream media than before. The former chess champion has been invited dozens of times in the past month by international media to share his views. As it turns out, Kasparov's Winter is Coming, with the subtitle "Why Vladimir Putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped," was much closer to the truth than most people wished to believe.

Kasparov: "If I wrote a sequel, it would be called Winter is Here. And the subtitle would be: I [bleep]'ing told you so."

According to Kasparov, the warning signs from Putin came early, but the world failed to listen properly.

"When Putin said there is no such thing as a former KGB agent, I knew Russia's fragile democracy was in danger. When Putin said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, I knew Russia's newly independent neighbors were at risk. And when Putin talked at the Munich security conference in 2007 about a return to spheres of influence, I knew he was ready to launch his plan."

Kasparov mentions the Second Chechen War, Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008, and the invasion of Crimea in 2014, and notes: "It's a paradox, isn't it? Dictators lie about everything they have done but often they tell us exactly what they are going to do. Just listen!"

Having been told since 2005 that politics is "not black and white, not chess" and that politics requires compromise, Kasparov shows images of destroyed cities and corpses in the streets in Ukraine, and asks: "Compromise? Are you sure? Compromise with this? You cannot look at the images from Ukraine in recent weeks and say there is no pure evil."

Showing an image from The Lord of the Rings, Kasparov argues that pure evil is no longer reserved for fiction while noting the difference with pure good: "There is no pure good. If anyone says they know what pure good is, it's probably evil. (...) Good will disagree. Evil says: no more disagreements, ever. That was life in real Mordor: the Soviet Union. That's what Putin wants for Russia and the world."

As is also clear from his many tweets in the past month, Kasparov is not satisfied with the support from the western countries for Ukraine, which mostly consists of economic sanctions toward Russia and providing weapons and humanitarian help.

"The price of stopping a dictator goes up with every delay, every hesitation," says Kasparov. "Meeting evil halfway is still a victory for evil. Evil tempts us with our weakness, with our desire for comfort."

Go here to read the rest:
Kasparov In TED Talk: 'Meeting Evil Halfway Is Still A Victory For Evil' - Chess.com

Chess is one of the earliest games thats still played religiously to this day, but have you ever wondered who the hottest chess players are in the world right now? Theyre the type of chess players that can make an average person like you and me look ridiculous at the chess table.

The game of chess originated in sixth century India with the introduction of chaturanga a game that was played on an 8-by-8 board and used pieces similar to that of chess today. Over the next 10 centuries, the game spread to Persia, the Arabs, China, Japan, and Europe.

By 1500, the modern day rules of chess started to develop and it became a fixture of everyday life by the 19th century with clubs, competitions, and tournaments happening around the world. In fact, it was 1851 in London that saw the first ever international chess tournament.

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Chess has grown mightily since that first international chess tournament in 1851 and the hottest chess players of all-time played a large role in making that happen and continuing to make it happen. Since 1886, the World Chess Championship has featured all of the best chess players.

If youre not the reigning world champion, the hottest chess players are usually the ones that reach the Grandmaster title, also known as GM. Its the highest title a chess player can receive and is a title that follows the individual throughout their entire life theyre Grandmaster for life.

There have been a lot of Grandmasters, a lot of World Champions, and a lot of talented chess players to grace the sport, but were here to talk about the hottest chess players in the world right now in 2022. With that, well need to take a look at the current FIDE player rankings.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda is a 23-year old Polish chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2750 and is currently ranked No. 15 in the world. He had a peak FIDE rating of 2760 in December of 2021 and a peak ranking of No. 12 in the world in December of 2019.

Duda earned the title of Grandmaster in 2013 at the age of 15. In 2018, he won the Polish Championship and won the Chess World Championship three years later in 2021.

Viswanathan Anand is a 52-year old Indian chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2751 and currently ranks No. 14 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2817 in March 2011 and a peak ranking of No. 1 in April 2007. His mother was a chess aficionado.

Anand is the first Indian chess player to ever earn the title Grandmaster, doing so in 1988. He became the FIDE World Chess Champion in 2000 and held the title until 2002. He won it yet again in 2007 and held it for another six years until losing it in 2013. It was a legendary run.

Teimour Radjabov is a 35-year old Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2753 and is currently ranked No. 13 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2793 in November of 2012 and a peak ranking of No. 4, which he achieved in July of 2012.

Radjabov was just 14 years old when he earned the title of Grandmaster at the time, he was the youngest to achieve that feat. Hes a three-time winner of the European Team Chess Championship (representing Azerbaijan) and recently won the 2020-21 Airthings Masters.

Leinier Dominguez Perez is a 38-year old Cuban-American chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2756 and is currently ranked No. 12 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2768 and a peak ranking of No. 10 in the world which he achieved in May 2014.

Dominguez earned the title of Grandmaster in 2001 at the age of 18. Hes a five-time Cuban Chess Champion and three-time Capablanca Memorial. He also won the 2008 World Blitz Championship. Dominguez competed in the World Chess Championship twice (2002, 2004).

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, also known as MVL (his initials), is a 31-year old French chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2758 and is currently ranked No. 11 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2819 and a peak ranking of No. 2 both in 2016.

MVL was just 14 years old when he achieved the title of Grandmaster in 2005. Hes a three-time French Chess Champion, World Junior Chess Champion, and five-time Biel Grandmaster Tournament winner. He also won the Sinquefield Cup in 2017 and most recently in 2021.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is a 36-year old Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2771 and is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2822 in September of 2018 and a peak ranking of No. 2 in February of 2018.

Mamedyarov learned how to play chess from his father, who also taught him how to box. Hes a two-time World Junior Champion, three-time European Team Champion, one-time World Rapid Champion in 2013, two-time Tal Memorial winner, and one-time Biel Chess Festival winner in 2018.

Ian Nepomniachtchi is a 31-year old Russian chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2773 and hes currently ranked No. 9 in the world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2792 in May 2021 and a peak ranking of No. 4 in the world, which he achieved in April of 2020.

Nepomniachtchi earned the title of Grandmaster in 2007 at the age of 17. He started playing chess at the age of four and is a two-time Russian Superfinal winner, European Individual winner, Tal Memorial winner, two-time Aeroflot Open winner, and FIDE Candidates winner.

Anish Giri is a 27-year old Russian-Dutch chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2773 and is currently ranked No. 8 in the entire world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2798 in October 2015 and a peak ranking of No. 3, which he achieved in January of 2016.

Giri earned the title of Grandmaster in 2009 at the age of 14 and a half. Hes a four-time Dutch Champion, Reggio Emillia winner, Reykjavik Open winner, London Chess Classic co-winner, and Wijk aan Zee co-winner. He also won the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters in 2019.

Richard Rapport is a 26-year old Hungarian chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2776 and is currently ranked No. 7 in the entire world. Both his current FIDE rating and current ranking are career-highs as he continues to climb up the leaderboards.

Rapport started learning how to play chess at just four years old at the hands of his father and earned the title of Grandmaster in 2010 at the age of 14. He won the Hungarian Chess Championship in 2017 and is the fifth-youngest chess player to be named a Grandmaster.

Wesley So is a 28-year old Filipino-American chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2778 and is currently ranked No. 6 in the entire world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2822 in February 2017 and a peak ranking of No. 2 in March 2017 just one month later.

So started competing in tournaments at the age of nine and quickly rose to dominance as a child. Hes a three-time and back-to-back reigning U.S. Chess Champion, current World Fischer Random Chess Champion, and three-time Philippine Chess Champion (before his transfer to the United States).

Fabiano Caruana is a 29-year old Italian-American chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2781 and is currently ranked No. 5 in the entire world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2844 and a peak ranking of No. 2 both of which were achieved in October of 2014.

Caruana earned the title of chess Grandmaster in 2007 at the age of 14 years (11 months, 20 days), making him the youngest Italian or American to do so at the time. Hes a four-time Italian Chess Champion, recorded a 3098 at the Sinquefield Cup in 2014, a tournament that he won.

Levon Aronian is a 39-year old Armenian-American chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2785 and is currently ranked No. 4 in the entire world. He has a peak FIDE rating of 2830 in March 2014 and a peak ranking of No. 2, which he achieved in January 2012.

Aronian earned the Grandmaster title in 2000 at the age of 17 years old and recorded the fourth-highest FIDE rating in history in 2014. Hes a two-time winner of the FIDE World Cup and three-time gold medalist at the Chess Olympiads. Hes one of Armenias greatest athletes ever.

Liren Ding is a 29-year old Chinese chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2799 and is currently ranked No. 3 in the entire world. He achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2816 in November 2018 and a peak ranking of No. 2, which he achieved in November 2021.

Ding earned the title of Grandmaster in 2009 at the age of 17. He not only became Chinas 30th Grandmaster, but hes the highest-ranking Chinese chess player ever and has won three China Chess Championships. He enjoyed a 100-game unbeaten streak, the longest streak at the time.

Alireza Firouzja is an 18-year old Iranian-French chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2804 and is currently the No. 2 ranked chess player in the entire world both of which are career-highs. He earned the title of Grandmaster in 2018 at the age of 14 years old.

Firouzja is currently the youngest chess player to ever record a 2800 rating and has been the No. 2 ranked player since December 2021. He won the FIDE Grand Swiss tourney, an individual gold at the European Team Chess Championship, and the World Blitz Chess Championship.

Magnus Carlsen is a 31-year old Norwegian chess Grandmaster. As of April 2022, he has a FIDE rating of 2864 and is currently the No. 1 ranked chess player in the world. He also has a peak FIDE rating of 2882 in May 2014 and first achieved No. 1 ranking in January of 2010.

Carlsen has been the top-ranked player since July 2011, marking the second-longest reign in chess history, and has the highest peak FIDE score of all-time. Hes widely regarded as the greatest of all-time and has been the World Champion since 2013. Will anyone dethrone him?

Some of the hottest chess players in the world today are also considered some of the greatest chess players of all-time with Magnus Carlsen being the obvious choice. Still, the sport has been around for so long that there are plenty of other greats that we didnt mention above.

For example, Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer are two names that many consider the hottest chess players ever. Others include Emanuel Lasker, Jos Ral Capablanca, Anatoly Karpov, Wilhelm Steinitz, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, and Mikhail Tal.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: The 25 Best Chess Players in 2021

Chess has been around for centuries and variations of it have been around even longer. Dont worry, unlike other things in this world, chess isnt going anywhere anytime soon and itll continue to be one of the most competitive, yet quiet and respectable sports in the entire world.

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