Alireza Firouzja is a French chess grandmaster, born on 18 June 2003 in Babol, Iran. He started playing chess at the age of eight and developed rapidly as a junior, winning a national championship at the age of 12. He earned the grandmaster title in 2018 at the age of 14.

In 2021 Firouzja won the FIDE Grand Swiss and an individual gold medal at the European Team Championship, and in December that year he became the youngest player to pass a FIDE rating of 2800. In 2022 he won the Sinquefield Cup, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz and the overall Grand Chess Tour. He played in the Candidates Tournaments of 2022 and 2024.