How Many Chess Grandmasters Are There? 2023’s Stats

The title of “Grandmaster” in chess is one of the most esteemed accomplishments a player can achieve. But do you know, out of all chess players, how many have successfully been granted this title?

As of 2023, the number of chess grandmasters continues to increase, with more players reaching the coveted title. So, how many chess grandmasters are there?

According to FIDE, there are 1785 grandmasters worldwide in 2023. Excluding the inactive players who haven’t played for 12 months, there are a total of 1299 active grandmasters. The best way to keep track of players holding the title is by following the FIDE website.

To be a grandmaster is an amazing feat, which is why they are looked at as the pinnacle of human intelligence and a source of pride for their countries, teams, and friends. In this article, we are going to look into some very interesting stats about Grandmasters, so keep reading…

How Many Chess Grandmasters Are There in 2023?

As of 2023, there are 1785 players who are granted the Grandmaster (GM) title in the world, but only 1299 of them are active; that’s 0.36% of all the active chess players around the globe. This percentage represents the 360,000 players who actively participate in tournaments. 

FIDE makes an updated list of all the grandmasters on their website. You can search by country, rating, gender, specific title, birth year, and inactivity. 

Who Is The Youngest Grandmaster? 

The youngest grandmaster in the world is Abhimanyu Mishra. He’s only 13 years old with a current FIDE rating of 2559. The American GM broke the record-beating Awonder Liang’s previous record for youngest Expert by achieving a 2000 USCF rating at the age of 7 years, 6 months, and 22 days.

After being titled Candidate Master in 2017, and International Master later in 2020, Mishara got the golden grandmaster title on June 30, 2021. He got it at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, becoming the youngest player to ever qualify for the title and breaking the record of Sergey Karjakin’s, which stood since 2002

Who Is The Oldest Grandmaster? 

The oldest chess player to hold the grandmaster title is Yuri Averbakh. In February 2022, the world celebrated the 100th birthday of the oldest grandmaster in the history of chess. Averbakh was the first chess player to ever reach the age of 100 while holding the title for 70 years since 1952. 

Unfortunately, three months after his 100th birthday, Averbakh passed away peacefully in Moscow, leaving the title of “the oldest grandmaster alive” to Aleksandar Matanović. Matanović was awarded the grandmaster title in 1955, 3 years after Averbakh. He is now 92 years old with a FIDE rating of 2490.

Top 10 Countries with The Most Grandmasters

The world has about 1800 grandmasters, but which nations have the most of them? It’s no surprise to anyone that most grandmasters have Russian names, as Russia has the most grandmasters in the entire world. 

Russia has a solid track record of success in international competition, having produced some world champions who are still making waves throughout the world. There are 206 Russian grandmasters who are still competing today, and another 28 are FIDE players who have previously competed for Russia.

Russia alone has 11 chess world champions, and they held the world chess championship title easily more than any other country in the world. The Russian domination of chess can not be understated, and although they no longer hold the title, you will always find a Russian competing for the WCC. Most recently, Nepomniachtchi fought for the 2023 WCC title, although he lost it to Ding (china).

The only other nation with more than 100 grandmasters is the United States. In America, there are 106 grandmasters. Yet, strangely, there has only ever been one American world champion  (Bobby Fischer), even though there are always many grandmasters in this country.

Here is a list of the top 10 countries with the most grandmasters:

#	Country	Number of active grandmasters
1	Russia 🇷🇺	206
2	USA 🇺🇸	106
3	Germany 🇩🇪	96
4	Ukraine 🇺🇦	89
5	India 🇮🇳	75
6	Spain 🇪🇸	57
7	France 🇫🇷	54
8	Serbia 🇷🇸	52
9	Hungary 🇭🇺	51
10	Poland 🇵🇱	50

How Many Female Chess Grandmasters Are There in 2023?

There are 38 women who hold the title of grandmaster (not WGM); however, only 30 of them are active. 

It should be noted that these statistics do not include Woman Grandmasters (WGM); instead, they only show the number of female chess players who hold the grandmaster title. The fact that there are fewer women on the list is not surprising, though, given that they have a smaller player base.

On the other hand, more women hold the Woman Grandmaster title, as there are 324 women grandmasters in the world, with 180 active play.

Some women hold both GM and WGM since GM is a title that can be acquired by both men and women. If you fulfill the requirements of both titles as a woman, you get granted both titles successfully. 

You must either win the World Junior Championship or have a FIDE rating of 2500 at some point in order to become a GM.

Meanwhile, The minimum requirements for becoming a WGM are a FIDE rating of 2300, three norms of 2400, or winning the World Girls Junior Championship. You can check out this complete guide to titles in chess to learn how they work more clearly.

Here are the numbers of different titles granted to women who rock it at the chessboard in 2023:

Females with WGM	Females with GM	Females with both WGM and GM
324	4	34

How Many Grandmasters Were Stripped of Their Titles? 

Fide titles typically last a lifetime. Once titled, always titled! However, according to FIDE rules, a title may be stripped off if a player is discovered to have broken the anti-cheating rules in a tournament on which the title application was based or if they use their FIDE title or rating “to subvert the ethical ideals of the title or rating system.”

There are only 3 grandmasters in the history of modern chess who were stripped of their titles. All the 3 cases were due to cheating or manipulation practices, which is never tolerated by the chess federations.

Here is a list of grandmasters who lost their titles:

Name	Country	Date awarded	Date revoked	Reason
Alexandru Crişan	Romania	1993	2015	Manipulation of system
Gaioz Nigalidze	Georgia	2014	2015	Game cheating
Igors Rausis	LatviaBangladeshCzech Republic	1992	2019	Game cheating

Now, let’s get into the details of what happened to them!

How Did Alexandru Crişan Lose His GM Title?

The first player to have his title revoked by FIDE was Alexandru Crişan, when he manipulated the system to gain the GM title. Is that possible? Evidently, yes. 

Carisan was rated 2530 on the July 1997 rating list, but a year later, on the January 1, 1998 list, he was ranked 33rd in the world with a rating of 2635. This was despite the fact that he had not played any notable matches in the previous ten years against the top 10 players in Romania. 

He hadn’t competed in the top group of the National Championship, hadn’t represented Romania in any Chess Olympiads, and hadn’t produced any results from any recognized or official tournament in Romania. Crisan allegedly fabricated tournament results to become GM.

In 2015, a committee looking into the situation suggested that his rating be removed, and his title be revoked.

How Did Gaioz Nigalidze Lose His GM Title?

In the same year as Alexandru Crişan, Gaioz Nigalidze lost his GM title after just one year of holding it. It happened after he was seen using a phone in a restroom stall at the 2015 Dubai Open. 

He had long been under suspicion. He received a three-year chess ban as a result, and his GM title was also taken away. He may not have been stripped of his IM title, but he was still degraded.

How Did Igors Rausis Lose His GM Title?

Igors Rausis, the 58-year-old Latvian-Czech player, was caught with his phone during a game at the Strasbourg Open earlier in 2019. He was stripped of his GM title and received a six-year ban ending on 30 July 2025 from the FIDE ethics commission.

The news spread very quickly after FIDE published it on their website. The commission also stated that as long as Rausis stays out of official FIDE competitions, he is still permitted to play correspondence or internet chess and continue to serve as a private tutor. 

Additionally, his rating was unaffected, and he kept his credentials as an international master, FIDE trainer, and national arbiter. However, at the time of writing, Rausis appears as “not rated” on the official FIDE website.

Unofficial Title Revoking: Mark Taimanov

Aside from the official FIDE regulation that announces whether a player is stripped of their GM title, there is an unofficial case in the history of chess. Chess grandmaster Mark Taimanov was banned by the Soviet government after falling short against American Bobby Fischer during the Cold War. 

He won the Soviet championship in 1956 and competed in the competition more than 20 times while pursuing a career as a concert pianist. But, unfortunately, his painful 0-6 defeat to American grandmaster Bobby Fischer in the 1971 World Championship Candidates match is what makes him most famous.

Moreover, the Soviet authorities penalized Taimanov for the humiliating loss because they thought he had lost on purpose. The US-Soviet chess matches were seen as symbolic during the Cold War. As a result, authorities deposed Taimanov of his titles and prohibited him from leaving the country for a year and a half, making it impossible for him to make a living.

What Are Super Grandmasters?

Officially, the grandmaster is known to be the highest title you can get as a chess player. However, you may have heard the word “Super grandmaster” getting thrown around every once in a while. Even though it’s an informal title, it’s popular among players.

The world’s top players are called informally “super grandmasters.” This title mainly refers to players who exceed an ELO rating of 2700. Formally, it was used to describe those with a higher ELO rating than 2600; however, the average rating of the top players increased in the past years.

How Many Super Grandmasters Are There? 

There are 42 super grandmasters recognized by FIDE in the world, and only 2 of them are inactive. So, basically, super grandmasters make up only 2% of grandmasters.

Here is a list of the top super grandmasters in 2023:

#	SGM	Rating
1	Magnus Carlsen	2859
2	Liren Ding	2811
3	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2793
4	Alireza Firouzja	2785
5	Hikaru Nakamura	2768
6	Fabiano Caruana	2766
7	Anish Giri	2764
8	Wesley So	2760
9	Viswanathan Anand	2754
10	Sergey Karjakin	2747

Conclusion

While the number of chess Grandmasters continues to grow steadily, their rarity and prestige remain intact.

The journey to becoming a Grandmaster requires years of relentless study, intense competition, and unwavering commitment to the game.

With each new generation, the boundaries of excellence are pushed further, showcasing the incredible depth and evolution of this timeless game.

Whether there are hundreds or thousands of Grandmasters, one thing remains certain: the pursuit of mastery in chess continues to captivate and inspire countless individuals worldwide. Maybe someday you will be the next grandmaster!

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