Meet the Players!
Magnus Carlsen doesn't need a special introduction, and listing his achievements would require an entire book. An easy way to sum them up is his impressive collection of 21 World Championship titles across all formats. His successes probably wouldn't have happened without his incredible memory, which was exceptional from early childhood. As a child, he could identify each country by its flag, capital, and even its population, which demonstrates his impressive memory. Apart from chess, in 2019, he also became a top fantasy football league player.
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Fabiano Caruana – The Machine. He earned his nickname thanks to his precise calculation and outstanding opening preparation, which helped him reach the World Championship Match and cross the 2800 rating mark multiple times. Born in Miami, he moved to New York, then to Barcelona and Budapest, where he will now be returning for the Total Chess Pilot event!
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Ian Nepomniachtchi, nicknamed Nepo, has been a chess rival of Magnus Carlsen from an early age. As a 12-year-old, he beat Carlsen on tiebreak to win the 2002 World Youth U-12 Championship. Almost 20 years later, they met again in a World Championship match and, well, we all know how this encounter ended. Nevertheless, he has already written history by winning the Candidates two times in a row! Apart from chess, Nepo has been a semi-professional-level Dota 2 player (under the handle "FrostNova") and plays Hearthstone with his fellow commentator, the now well-known GM Peter Svidler.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / FIDE Candidates
Arjun Erigaisi was nicknamed "the Madman" of the chessboard by Magnus Carlsen because of his aggressive playing style. He dropped out of a data science university programme in December 2021 to devote himself full-time to chess. And good for him! In 2024, he crossed the 2800 Elo barrier on the official FIDE rating list, becoming one of the few players in history to achieve this milestone.
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Another nickname holder is Levon Aronian, who was dubbed the "David Beckham of chess" by CNN in 2016. The nickname seems well deserved, considering his two World Championship titles: he became the World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009 and the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. Apart from being the Beckham of the chessboard, he is also a passionate jazz enthusiast, with John Coltrane being his favourite musician.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / Chessdom
Speaking of music, we cannot skip Germany's number one, Vincent Keymer. He was born into a musical family, with his father being a concert pianist and his mother a cellist. The artistic chaos seems to be his natural habitat, as he has also won the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Weissenhaus. Could this be where Vincent draws inspiration for his games?
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Another national number one is Haik Martirosyan, who represents Armenia and won the Armenian Championships in 2018. In 2021, he knocked Mamedyarov out of the World Cup. Will we see a rematch in Budapest?
Credit: FIDE Official Page
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is the only two-time World Junior (U-20) Chess Champion in history (2003 and 2005). Mamedyarov's surname appears in another chess setting as well. He has two younger sisters, Zeinab and Turkan Mamedyarova, both Woman Grandmasters. At the chessboard, he is known as one of the most aggressive and tactical elite players of his generation and is highly successful in online blitz.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess
Speaking of chess families, we have to mention Jorden van Foreest. His brother Lucas is also a Grandmaster, and his sister Machteld is a two-time Dutch Women's Champion. He is one of six siblings, several of whom play competitively. Chess goes back five generations in Jorden's family: his great-great-grandfather, Arnold van Foreest, won the Dutch Championship in 1889, 1893, and 1902, and Arnold's brother, Dirk, won it from 1885 to 1887. Jorden won the same title himself in 2016. Moreover, in 2021, Jorden sped up his career by impressively winning the 83rd edition of the Wimbledon of chess, the Tata Steel Festival. Apparently, chess really does run in the van Foreest family!
Credit: FIDE Official Page
During a simultaneous exhibition in Chennai, held during the World Championship match, there was just one junior player who defeated the reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. This player was a 12-year-old Indian women's superstar, Vaishali Rameshbabu. Moreover, she and Praggnanandhaa R were the first brother-sister pair to both qualify for a Candidates tournament in the same year (2023). Her talent doesn't stop at qualifying, either. She won the 2026 Women's Candidates as the lowest-rated of all eight participants. Consequently, she will play a Women's World Championship match.
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
But first things first – how did her chess journey start? Here comes another fun story! As a child, she was keen on cartoons, and her parents signed her up for chess to cut down her screen time. Her two-year-old brother, Pragg, kept interrupting her lessons and playing with the chess pieces, so they started teaching him too. Later on, the Rameshbabu siblings became one of the strongest sibling duos in the chess world, with both becoming grandmasters and competing in the same year's FIDE Candidates. Moreover, both Pragg and Vaishali competed at Norway Chess in 2024: Pragg in Norway Chess and Vaishali at the inaugural Norway Chess Women tournament in Stavanger in 2024.
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Apparently, siblings are very important in the game of chess! Andrew Hong started playing chess because his older brother brought home a sheet of chess puzzles, which Andrew actually solved. Apart from chess, he plays basketball and does track and field. Moreover, he is not only an athlete but was also a strong AMC maths contest student.
Credit: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova
Talking about childhood memories, it is essential to mention Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Nodirbek has been showing his talent from the beginning, scoring a win against a 2600-rated GM in classical chess at the age of just nine. Afterwards, he held the record for being the youngest player ever to cross a 2400 rating.
He is also known for his confidence and self-belief, reinforced by his words referring to Magnus Carlsen: "Our generation is coming for him. It's going to be very tough for Magnus." Words can be just words when actions do not back them up. Nodirbek proved his statement by winning the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in 2021, becoming the youngest-ever World Rapid Champion at 17 years and 3 months. Apart from chess, he is also an avid football fan and player.
Credit: Maria Emelianova / Norway Chess
Breaking records is the speciality of Abhimanyu Mishra, who holds the record for the youngest Grandmaster, a title he gained at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days. The path to becoming a GM was also filled with a cascade of "youngest ever" American records. He became the youngest USCF Expert, National Master (at the age of 9 years and 2 months), FIDE Master, and International Master.
Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Liem Le is also in the club of record-breakers. By winning the 2013 World Blitz Championship, he became the first Vietnamese chess player to win an official FIDE World Championship title. Moreover, he was the first Vietnamese player to crack the FIDE top 100 (January 2010) and later reached a career-best World No. 14 in 2024.
His chess career is even more impressive if you take into consideration the fact that he graduated summa cum laude from Webster University in the field of Finance & Management in 2017.
Credit: Andreas Kontokanis
Another university graduate is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Maybe his mathematical skills helped him reach his peak rating of 2819 in 2016. Back then, he was cited as the seventh-highest-rated player in classical chess history.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Jan-Krzysztof Duda also holds a university degree. He graduated from the University School of Physical Education in Krakow in 2020. 2021 was very successful, as he won the FIDE World Cup and the European Blitz Championship. As a child, he said: "Since I was six or seven, I was convinced I'd become world champion." He has also spoken openly about his experiences in professional chess and the challenges that come with competing at the highest level.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Combining chess and fashion is rather an unusual combination, but not for Alireza Firouzja, who has studied fashion design in Paris. If you look at him outside of his games, you may notice it very clearly. Besides fashion, he recorded his first-ever classical win over Carlsen in May 2026 at Norway Chess. He has also broken the 2800 Elo barrier.
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Wesley So is known for his rock-solid chess, which was proved by his 67-game unbeaten streak (July 2016–April 2017). He is a self-taught player who practised in his neighbourhood in Bacoor, Philippines, using bottle caps as pieces, without a formal coach. It's especially impressive looking at him being a reigning four-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion
Credit: Michal Walusza / Norway Chess
Anish Giri is from the Netherlands, right? Well, that's not the whole story! He was born in Russia, spent some of his childhood in Japan, and later moved to the Netherlands. Because of his international experience, he speaks many different languages, including Russian, Dutch, and English. However, he claims that he used to speak Japanese and Nepali when he was a child. Nevertheless, his skills are fading due to a lack of practice.
One of his biggest achievements is winning the Tata Steel Masters Tournament in 2023. Giri also runs an active YouTube channel (~232,000+ subscribers), produces chess courses, and is known for his engaging and entertaining tweets.
Credit: Maria Emelianova / Norway Chess
Vladislav Artemiev – a real master of the ticking clock. At his very first rated tournament (2008, at the age of 10), he scored an official Elo of 2046. At World Rapid 2025, he beat Arjun Erigaisi with just 20 seconds on his own clock and beat Carlsen while having about one minute left against Carlsen's 11. Will he maintain his composure in Budapest?
Credit: Michal Walusza / Total Chess
Richard Rapport – a homegrown star. Known for his aggressive style and crazy opening preparation and ideas, he is married to Woman Grandmaster Jovana Rapport, which makes them a super-grandmaster chess couple. He also gained recognition thanks to his collaboration with Ding Liren, when he was part of his team as a second during the World Championship match against Gukesh.
Credit: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Hans Moke Niemann has been paving his own way to the top. When he was a teenager, he used to coach for 20–30 hours per week to afford his tournament travels. He has been breaking records regarding the number of tournaments played in a year, reaching around 150 tournaments per year! Moreover, he is a prominent Twitch streamer and the founder of the AI chess-training venture ("Endgame.ai"). His controversy with Magnus Carlsen was also the subject of the Netflix documentary "Chess Mates".
Credit: Lenart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Bibisara Assaubayeva was a competitive artistic gymnast in childhood (a multiple-time Astana city champion) before focusing on chess. In 2021, she won the Women's World Blitz Championship, which made her the youngest-ever Women's World Blitz Champion – a Guinness World Record. As blitz is one of the formats of the Total Chess Pilot event in Budapest, she is definitely one of the players you should be keeping your eye on.
Credit: Bibisara Assaubayeva / Norway Chess
All Roads Lead to Budapest!
Our field is filled with incredible players, each with their own unique story, but they all have one thing in common: Budapest is their next destination. Which stories will unfold during the first Total Chess Pilot event? And who will make history? We will find out soon!
