Magnus Carlsen

Country: Norway
Born: November 30, 1990
FIDE rating May 2014: 2882
World ranking: 1

Since 2010, Magnus Carlsen has dominated the chess world by winning almost every tournament he has taken part in. Still only 23 years old, the world’s number one has already won 15 super-tournaments and has broken Garry Kasparov’s legendary all-time high rating record of 2851. Now that he tops the world rankings with more than 40 rating points ahead of number two, chess fans wonder where all this will end. It’s been more than 3 years since he had a bad tournament result.

Magnus Carlsen defeated Anand in the World Championship match in November last year, and is now the undisputed World Champion.

Levon Aronian

Country: Armenia
Born: October 6, 1982
FIDE rating May 2014: 2815
World Ranking: 2

World number two, Levon Aronian is considered one of Magnus Carlsen’s toughest rivals. The two have clashed in more than 50 games since they first met in the first round of the FIDE World Championship in Libya in 2004. At that time, Aronian was victorious in the play-off, but later he has had to suffer on several occasions. Aronian is a major celebrity in his chess-loving home country. He is one of only seven players to reach the 2800 barrier.

Alexander Grischuk

Country: Russia
Born: October 31, 1983
FIDE rating May 2014: 2792
World Ranking: 3

At the age of 30, Alexander Grischuk has already been one of the world’s best players for more than a decade. Ever since 2000 he has been a regular member of the Russian national team, contributing to the victories at the Olympiads in Istanbul in 2000 and in Bled in 2002. Last December he played second board on the Russian team that won the World Team Championship in Antalya. Born in Moscow, Grischuk first entered the top-10 of the world rankings in 2003 and has been a member of the elite ever since. His highest position was 4^th, which he occupied for most of 2013. His peak rating of 2786 he reached in November of last year. In the 2012-13 FIDE Grand Prix he finished overall fifth, his best result being second place in the Beijing GP. Among his finest individual results, his first place in Linares in 2009 stands out. In that year he also won the Russian Championship. Despite all these classical successes, Grischuk has always been an advocate of faster time-controls and no one should be surprised if he himself sees his wins at the Blitz World Championships in 2006 in Rishon LeZion and in 2012 in Astana as his finest achievements.

Fabiano Caruana

Country: Italy
Born: July 30, 1992
FIDE rating May 2014: 2783
World Ranking: 5

Fabiano Caruana has firmly established himself as one of the top-10 players in the world. Currently ranked 6th, the 21-year-old Italian is seen as one of the possible challengers of Magnus Carlsen in the years ahead.

Caruana was born in the United States, in Miami. He was 10 when he first beat a grandmaster and at the age of 14 years and 350 days he became the youngest grandmaster in American history. In 2007 he decided to represent Italy, the country where both his parents were born. In that same year he became Italian champion for the first time. In 2012 he won the Reykjavik Open, the 40th Dortmund tournament and tied for first in the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, losing the blitz tiebreak to Magnus Carlsen. In 2013 he won the Zurich Chess Challenge ahead of world championship finalists Anand and Gelfand, and finished third in the overall standings of the FIDE Grand Prix. There is little doubt that soon he will be a 2800-player who is a candidate for first place in every tournament he plays in.

Vladimir Kramnik

Country: Russia
Born: Juen 25, 1975
FIDE rating May 2014: 2783
World Ranking: 6

Vladimir Kramnik (born 25 June 1975) was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov in a match in London, and became the Classical World Chess Champion. In 2006 he defeated reigning FIDE World Chess Champion, Veselin Topalov, in a match that unified World Chess Championship and Classic Chess Championship titles after Kasparov broke with FIDE in 1993. Thus Kramnik became the first undisputed world champion with both the FIDE and Classical World Champion title. In 2007, he lost the title to Vishy Anand.

Veselin Topalov

Country: Bulgaria
Born: March 15, 1975
FIDE rating May 2014: 2772
World Ranking: 8

For two decades already, Veselin Topalov has been one of the best players in the world. His major accomplishment was his win at the 2005 World Championship in San Luis, Argentina. Scoring an incredible 6½ from 7 in the first half, he had already pretty much clinched the title.
Topalov dominated the chess scene for a few years as the world’s number one, but had to give up the world title when he lost to Kramnik in Elista in 2006.

Following a narrow defeat against Vishy Anand in the 2010 World Championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria, Topalov chose to be less active for a while and temporarily dropped out of the Top 10.

As the FIDE Grand Prix tournaments in 2012/13, he showed that he still is a world class player.

Sergey Karjakin

Country: Russia
Born: January 12, 1990
FIDE rating May 2014: 2770
World Ranking: 9

Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin, who now lives in Moscow and represents Russia, still holds the record of the youngest grandmaster of all time. He earned the title at the age of just 12 years and seven months, that is six months younger than Magnus Carlsen when he got his title.
Karjakin’s first major tournament win came in 2009, when he took first prize in Wijk aan Zee. In July 2011, he managed to get into the world’s Top 5 list for the first time. In 2012 Karjakin became World Rapid Chess Champion, a full point ahead of Norway’s own Magnus Carlsen. We welcome Sergey back to Norway Chess! Will he repeat his victory?

Peter Svidler

Country: Russia
Born: June 17, 1976
FIDE rating May 2014: 2753
World Ranking: 13

Peter Svidler, the 37-year-old grandmaster from St. Petersburg, has won seven Russian Championships, a FIDE World Cup and five Olympiad Gold Medals, to name just a selection of his triumphs. Svidler returns to Norway, where he took part in a rapid event with Magnus Carlsen in Longyearbyen in 2006.

He also won the Aker Chess Challenge in Gjøvik 2008/9, beating Magnus in the final. Nakamura took care of the other Norwegian, Kjetil Lie and came 3rd. We welcome Peter back to Norway Chess! Will he improve his 4th place from last year?

Anish Giri

Country: The Netherlands
Born: June 28, 1994
FIDE rating May 2014: 2746
World Ranking: 17

Anish Giri is the number one Junior in the FIDE world rankings, a position the young Dutchman has occupied since January 2013. In the meantime he has also become a stable member of the Top 20 of the overall world rankings, number 15 being his highest place so far. Giri was born in St. Petersburg to a Russian mother and a Nepalese father. He began to play chess in Russia, where he won the U-12 national championship, and continued to do so when his family moved to Japan. In 2008 they settled in the Netherlands, where his father works as an engineer. Giri developed rapidly and at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days he became a grandmaster. He won the Dutch championship three times. His further successes include victories in the Wijk aan Zee B Group (2010), the Sigeman tournament (2010) and Reggio Emilia (2012). Last year he became a Dutch citizen and finished his secondary education. Before he goes to university he intends to play chess for one or two years. His first success as a ‘pro’ was a match win against Ivanchuk in Leon. At the 2011 Tata Steel tournament Giri made headlines when he beat Magnus Carlsen in 22 moves with the black pieces. He holds a positive score in classical chess against the World Champion, as their next four encounters all ended in draws.

Simen Agdestein

Country: Norway
Born: May 15, 1967
FIDE rating May 2014: 2625
World Ranking: 161

Agdestein became a grandmaster in 1985 and had a rating of more than 2600 in the late 80s. He’s still going strong after making comeback as an active chess player in 2013. Today Agdestein’s rating is once again well above 2600, being ranked third in Norway. He convincingly beat Norway’s number two, Jon Ludvig Hammer, in a match for the final spot in Norway Chess. He placed second in the World Championship for junior players in 1986, ahead of former World Champion Anand. Agdestein has won the Norwegian Championship seven times, and he was ranked 16th in the world at his best.