Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Often referred to as MVL, he came to prominence in 2009 after winning the title of World Junior Chess Champion. He is currently the No. 1 ranked player in France as well as a three-time French champion (2007, 2011, Shared in 2012). He is also a four-time winner of the Biel Grandmaster Tournament (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015).
Fabiano Caruana
At various times the No. 2 ranked player in the world Caruana became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days. He was the youngest grandmaster in the history of the United States until this record was beaten in 2009 by Ray Robson. In October 2014 he achieved an Elo rating of 2844 becoming the third highest rated player in history.
Vladimir Kramnik
The Russian Grandmaster was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.
Levon Aronian
Winner of the Chess World Cup in 2005. He has also led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in three Chess Olympics (Turin, Dresden, Istanbul) as well as to Gold at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010. He was also World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000’s.
Hikaru Nakamura
Nakamura is a four-time United States Chess Champion who also won the 2011 edition of the Tata Steel Group A. He has represented the United States at five Chess Olympiads, winning two team bronze medals. 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.
Wesley So
A former chess prodigy who became the youngest player to pass the 2600 threshold in October 2008, breaking the record previously held by Magnus Carlsen. In February 2015 he entered the World top 10 after tying for second place at the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He is a three-time Philippines Chess Champion and also won the Bilbao Chess Masters Final in 2015.
Viswanathan Anand
The former World Chess Champion and oldest player in the Tour field became India's first grandmaster in 1988. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002 and became the undisputed World Chess Champion in 2007. He defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008, Veselin Topalov in 2010 and Boris Gelfand in 2012 before finally losing the title to Magnus Carlsen in their World Chess Championship match in 2013.
Anish Giri
The Russian-born Dutch Grandmaster achieved the grandmaster title at the age of 14 years and 7 months. Giri is a four-time Dutch Chess Champion (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015) and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has also represented the Netherlands at three Chess Olympiads (Russia, Turkey, Norway).
Veselin Topalov
The Bulgarian number 1 became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2005. He lost his title in the 2006 World Chess Championship match against Vladimir Kramnik and was also narrowly defeated by Vishy Anand in their match for the World Chess Championship title in 2010.
Michael Adams
The Cornishman has been the country’s leading player since 1999 and was once ranked number 4 in the world. Adams has consistently recorded outstanding performances and been a member of the world elite for the better part of 20 years. Other highlights of his career include reaching the final of the 2004 FIDE World Championship and winning the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in 2013.