Which Country is Best at Chess?
- Overall Strength: The first factor I'm judging on is the current overall strength of each country. If I judged on all-time strength then Russia would blow every country out of the water and many of the countries on my list wouldn't make the cut ._.
- Amount of World Champions Each Country Has Produced: This criterion is pretty self-explanatory. The country's rankings will also be partially decided based on how many World Chess Champions have hailed from said country. This will tell me whether they're capable of competing at a world-caliber level or not. And I know I said I wouldn't judge based on all-time strength, but I had to make an exception here. Discluding the World Champions from the picture simply wouldn't work.
- Amount of Titled Players Residing in Each Country: Also pretty self-explanatory. Not much to add here. More grandmasters=better quality of chess
- Recent Tournament Performances: And last but not least, we have possibly the most important criterion. I'll be comparing the performances of the world's top players in reputable chess events such as the Sinquefield Cup, Tata Steel, World Cup, Chess Olympiad, and the Candidates, to name a few. If a country has numerous titled players but not much relevance in prestigious tournaments, this suggests that the country's competition back home is relatively weak compared with that of the rest of the world.
I'll rank the Top 5 countries based on their chess skill, and even include some honorable mentions; outstanding countries that could not make the cut because of a deficit in at least one of the four categories. Without further ado, let's jump right into the rankings!
Number 5: China
Top Player: GM Ding Liren (World Rank #2, 2811 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: Zero.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Nine. GM Xie Jun 2-time, GM Zhu Chen 1-time, WGM Xu Yuhua 1-time, GM Hou Yifan 4-time, WGM Tan Zhongyi 1-time, & GM Ju Wenjun 1-time.
Amount of Titled Players: 181. 48 GMs, 39 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top 10 Players: 2739 FIDE.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Eight.
Coming in at #5 to kick things off is China. While China lacks overall strength and the sheer number of titled players that the other entries have on this list, the players that the country has produced have been very competitive in the upper echelons of chess. China’s greatest player, Ding Liren, is a three-time Chinese chess champion and the highest-rated player in his country’s history. His numerous accolades include becoming the youngest to win the Chinese Championship at 16, heading the Chinese team as he led them to gold finishes in the 2014 and 2018 Olympiads, and reaching the World Chess Championship, where I believe he has a strong chance to beat Nepo. In addition, China has absolutely dominated the Women’s World Championship, boasting nine female world champions. It’s clear that China has a bright future in the world of chess.
Number 4: Ukraine
Top Player: GM Pavel Eljanov (World Rank #36, 2706 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: Zero.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Two. GM Anna Ushenina 1-time & GM Mariya Muzychuk likewise 1-time.
Amount of Titled Players: 589. 93 GMs, 209 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top Ten Players: 2663 FIDE.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Nine.
Although Ukraine claims the second most IMs of any country and the fourth most GMs, that's all they really have going for them. It's true that Ukraine has nine players in the FIDE Top 100, more than China, but Ukraine has consistently remained irrelevant in modern chess tournaments for years. Granted, some of the most creative geniuses hail from Ukraine, such as Taimanov, Bogoljubov, and Bronstein, but its performance in the past few years has been lackluster. I believe Ukraine has the talent, they just have some more training to undergo.
Number 3: India
Top Player: GM Viswanathan Anand (World Rank #9, 2754 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: One. Anand, from 2000-2002 and 2007-2012.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Zero.
Amount of Titled Players: 408. 64 GMs, 114 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top Ten Players: 2668 FIDE.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Eight.
At #3 I've placed India, a powerhouse for young, brilliant chess talent. With its quadrumvirate of U20 grandmasters(Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Nihal Sarin), India radiates a commanding presence in the world's most esteemed chess tournaments. All of these players are 2600+ and I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was to become the World Champion in the future. You can certainly bank on them participating in the FIDE Candidates for many years to come though! As if this wasn't enough, arguably one of the greatest chess players of all time, Viswanathan Anand, hails from India, and lying just inside the world's top ten, he is far from being past his prime despite being over fifty years of age. Below is the stunning comeback victory that led Anand to a 6.5-4.5 World Championship win in 2008 against Kramnik, annotated by yours truly:
Thus, India has a bright future in chess and I look forward to seeing what these young superstars are able to accomplish.
Honorable Mention #3: Germany
Top Player: GM Vincent Keymer (World Rank #43, 2696 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: One. Emanuel Lasker from 1894-1921.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Zero.
Amount of Titled Players: 1443. 96 GMs, 273 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top Ten Players: 2630
Number of Players in World's Top 100: Two.
I struggled with where to place Germany since their situation was similar to that of Ukraine. However, I eventually decided to not include them in my top five since Ukraine holds the edge over them with more players in the FIDE Top 100. and a stronger average rating of their top players. While Germany has a massive amount of titled players, nearly five hundred more than the U.S., second to only Russia, it hasn't garnered much success in any recent tournaments. In fact, Germany has been absent from the Candidates for a long time. While Germany has a sufficient quantity of chess players, they lack quality.
Honorable Mention #2: France
Top Player: GM Alireza Firouzja (World Rank #4, 2785 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: Zero.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Zero.
Amount of Titled Players: 465. 50 GMs, 118 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top Ten Players: 2638 FIDE.
Number of Player's in the World's Top 100: Four.
France is another country that came close to making my list just because of the sheer strength of its two Top-20 players, Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Both of these players are of world-caliber strength in my opinion, and consistently make the Candidates every year. Moreover, they consistently perform well in the top chess tournaments. The only thing that made me disclude France from my list is the fact that outside of these players, France is practically irrelevant, and pretty much was until MVL and Alireza started playing.
Honorable Mention #1: Norway
Top Player: GM Magnus Carlsen (World Rank #1, 2857 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: One. Also Magnus Carlsen, from 2016-2022.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Zero.
Amount of Titled Players: 146. 16 GMs, 36 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top 10 Players: 2584 FIDE.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Two.
For my highest-ranked honorable mention, I've selected Norway. Claiming the most dominant world champion and player of all-time, Norway is a force to be reckoned with in team events with Magnus Carlsen on board 1. While Carlsen does carry Norway in regards of results, as a five-time World Champion, four-time World Rapid Champion, six-time World Blitz Champion, and eight-time Tata Steel winner, Aryan Tari hopes to follow close in his footsteps as he has a 2019 Norway Championship victory and a 2022 Norway Chess win against Carlsen himself. With Carlsen's announcement of stepping away from his world title, Norway's future is uncertain, to say the least, but they have already cemented their reputation as being the birthplace to the greatest player in history.
Top Player: GM Hikaru Nakamura (World Rank #5, 2768 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: One. Bobby Fischer from 1972-1975.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Zero. (Although Judit Polgar could've won some if she'd competed in any!)
Amount of Titled Players: 828. 101 GMs, 161 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top 10 Players: 2715.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Twelve.
Nakamura. Caruana. So. Dominguez Perez. Aronian. The FIDE Top 100 is riddled with strong American super-grandmasters. With large representation in the world's most notable tournaments it comes as no surprise that America usually garners success at top events. Several of these players have competed in the Candidates and even the World Chess Championship, and I feel that America is on the verge of having another World Champion if one of these guys will rise to the challenge. Regardless, the U.S. is trailing close behind Russia in terms of recent dominance.
Top Player: GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (World Rank #3, 2793 Elo).
Number of World Champions Produced: Nine. Alexander Alekhine 2-time, Mikhail Botvinnik 3-time, Vasily Smyslov 1-time, Mikhail Tal 1-time, Tigran Petrosian 1-time, Boris Spaasky 1-time, Anatoly Karpov 1-time, Garry Kasparov 1-time, and Vladimir Kramnik 1-time.
Number of Women's World Champions Produced: Seven. Vera Menchik, Lyudmila Rudenko, Elisaveta Bykova 2-time, Olga Rubtsova, GM Nona Gaprindashvili, and GM Maia Chiburdanidze.
Amount of Titled Players: 2641. 256 GMs, 549 IMs.
Average Rating of Country's Top 10 Players: 2739 Elo.
Number of Players in the World's Top 100: Nine.
Russia needs no introduction. They have dominated chess since the early 20th century to be quite frank. Throughout the 1900s, Russia obliterated the world with its nine world champions and seven women's world champions. And now, in modern times, Russia continues to be a chess powerhouse. With an astounding 2641 titled players, double that of the next highest country, and nearly 300 grandmasters, it's clear that chess talent runs in the Russian genes. And with a player like Ian Nepomniachtchi, who has the chance to become Russia's tenth world champion this April, it looks like Russia has no plan on slowing their dominance anytime soon.
Conclusion:
As always, thanks so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed and maybe even learned something from this more educational article. Shoutout to BlogChamps again, the largest club on Chess.com devoted to blogging. If you'd like to receive constructive criticism and feedback on YOUR blogs from professionals, make sure to join! Also, feel free to leave a comment if you'd like, but that's it for now. Until next time,
-Nimzo
