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Home » Chess Players » 10 Best American Chess Players (Top Grandmasters in the US)

10 Best American Chess Players (Top Grandmasters in the US)

Editorial Staff by Editorial Staff
in Chess Players
Best American Chess Players

In the last list of the top Grandmasters in each country series, we went over the best Hungarian Chess players. Now in this article, we’re going through the ten best American Chess players from the United State of America. We’re going in order from the tenth highest FIDE rated player to the number one spot.

Last Updated: April 10th, 2022

Added a link in Wesley So’s profiles section to his official Chess player profile on The Chess Journal.

The United States has a long, interactive alliance within the Chess World. Being deeply involved has allowed for the U.S to bring about the most strategically advanced Chess players of all time. These chess players have came from all over the nation and proven themselves to be the best on the World’s roster. Here are the top Grandmasters in America.

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  • 10) Alexander Onischuk
    • Ratings
    • Profiles
  • 9) Dariusz Swiercz
    • Ratings
    • Profiles
  • 8) Gata Kamsky
    • Ratings
    • Profiles
  • 7) Ray Robson
    • Ratings
    • Profiles
  • 6) Jeffery Xiong
    • Profiles
  • 5) Sam Shankland
    • Profiles
  • 4) Hikaru Nakamura
    • Profiles
  • 3) Leinier Dominguez Perez
    • Profiles
  • 2) Wesley So
    • Ratings
    • Profiles
  • 1) Fabiano Caruana
    • Profiles

10) Alexander Onischuk

Full name: Alexander Onishuk
Title: Grandmaster
Born: Sepetember 3rd, 1975
Place of Birth: Sevastopol, Ukranian SSR, Soviet Union

Ratings

World Ranking: 110
Rapid: 2693
Blitz: 2650
Classical (STD): 2649

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • 365 Chess
  • US Chess

Alexander Onishuk has had less standing achievements than most grandmasters, however he does bring a stable and analytical standpoint to every tournament. His understanding of the games allows him to train in more a victorious way rather than typical. Onishuk placed first in the 2006 U.S Championship and believes that to be his greatest achievement.

9) Dariusz Swiercz

Full name: Dariusz Swiercz
Title: Grandmaster
Born: May 31st, 1994
Place of Birth: Tarnowskie Gory, Poland

Ratings

World Ranking: 90
Rapid: 2649
Blitz: 2689
Classical (STD): 2655

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chessgames.com

Dariusz Swiercz, soon named the child prodigy of the game Chess, is one of the youngest polish american players in history. In 2012, Swiercz was deemed notable for placing 4th board at the 40th Chess Olympian in Istanbul. Swiercz changed his national federation in 2018 and has been representing the United States ever since.

8) Gata Kamsky

Full name: Gata Kamsky
Title: Grandmaster
Born: June 2nd, 1974
Place of Birth: Novokuznetsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

Ratings

World Ranking: 99
Rapid: 2717
Blitz: 2644
Classical (STD): 2649

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chessgames.com
  • World Chess

Kamsky is one of the few chess players that was able to hold title for being a five time U.S Chess Champion and being a six time U.S Olympiad team member. While being the first America to compete in the FIDE World Chess Championship and losing to Anatoly Karpov, Kamsky was able to win the FIDE World Cup.

7) Ray Robson

Full name: Ray Robson
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 25, 1994
Place of Birth: Guam

Ratings

World Ranking: 65
Rapid: 2605
Blitz: 2683
Classical (STD): 2673

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • 365 Chess
  • US Chess

Before his 15th birthday, Robson was granted the title of grandmaster at such a young age. Granted Robson began learning the game of chess at the age of three, where he soon discovered his preference for competing against the toughest competition, at that time his father Gary. Over the years, Robson represented the US in many international tournaments including the World Cup.

6) Jeffery Xiong

Full name: Jeffery Xiong
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 30, 2000
Place of Birth: Plano, Texas

World Ranking: 30
Rapid:2730
Blitz: 2724
Classical (STD): 2710

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • 365 Chess
  • US Chess Champs

Xiong is the highest underage rating player within the FIDE. Xiong is currently home schooled and still manages to take his losses more professionally rather than his older opponents. Xiong has been able to use the defeat as a strategic way to up his game for every new tournament which has shown to be quite effective. By showing his improvement skills, Xiong was awarded a four year scholarship at the University of Texas in Dallas for being such a star and ranking undefeated at the UT Dallas vs, U,S.A Junior all stars.

5) Sam Shankland

Full name: Sam L. Shankland
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 1st, 1991
Place of Birth: Berkeley, California

World Ranking: 33
Rapid: 2609
Blitz: 2704
Classical (STD): 2709

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • 365 Chess
  • US Chess Champs

Shankland was another grandmaster that was awarded the SamFord Chess Fellowship award, which allowed him to strengthen his skills for chess. Upon deciding to retire, Shankland had decided to play in one more event, which took a turn for the best. Upon play he soon received achievement that proved the idea of retirement to be unethical, as he knew the game of chess was overall satisfying to him.

4) Hikaru Nakamura

Full name: Hikaru Nakamura
Title: Grandmaster
Born: December 9th, 1987
Place of Birth: Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

World Ranking: 19
Rapid: 2829
Blitz: 2900
Classical (STD):2736

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chessgames.com
  • The Chess Journal
  • Hikaru’s Website

Nakamura is an American Chess player who began the game of chess at just a small age of seven, where he was coached by his stepfather, an renowned chess author and FIDE master. With the help of his father and teach, Sunni Weeramantry, Nakamura placed title for being a four-time United States Chess champion. As of October 2015, Nakamura rates number one in the United states and number two in the world FIDE ratings list.

3) Leinier Dominguez Perez

Full Name: Leinier DOminguez Perez
Title: Grandmaster
Born: September 23, 1983
Place of Birth: Havana, cuba

World Ranking: 13
Rapid: 2786
Blitz: 2654
Classical (STD): 2758

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chess.com

Leinier Dominiguez Perez is known for being a five time Cuban national champion. During his years playing for Cuba, Perez has been able to compete amongst others international while bringing great victory to his country. The year 2018, Perez made a change from Cuba to the United States where he almost instantly became known as a top-five American Player.

2) Wesley So

Full name: Wesley Barbasa SO
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 9, 1993
Place of Birth: Bacoor, Cavite, Phillippies

Ratings

World Ranking: 9
Rapid: 2774
Blitz: 2861
Classical (STD): 2772

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Wesley So Chess Player Profile

Welsey Barbasa So was named a three time Filipino Chess Champions as well as a United States Champion in the year 2017. That same year, Wesley became known as the fifth highest ranking chess player in history. He had played in the Philippines near the beginning of his career and transferred to the United States in the year 2014. The following year So was eligible to obtain the SamFord Fellowship award, which granted him 42,000 dollars to train and play within top tournaments.

1) Fabiano Caruana

Full name: Fabiano Luigi Caruana
Title: Grandmaster
Born: July 30, 1992
Place of Birth: Miaimi Florida

World Ranking: 2
Rapid: 2758
Blitz: 2734
Classical (Std): 2806

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chess.com

Lastly coming in at the number one FIDE ranked Chess player in the United States, Fabiano Caruana. Caruana achieved the title as a Grandmaster in the game of chess at the age of 14. Earning this title made him become one of the youngest grandmasters known in U.s history and in the history of Italy. Caruanas most memorable win over the past years was his tournament with the UK grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov. This tournament ended with Caruana placing the 41st move that checkmated Ruslan Ponomariov.

 

That concludes the list of the ten best American Chess players. If you like list posts like this, you may also be interested in seeing the ten best Indian Chess players or the best Canadian Chess players.

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