Out of the 212 titled Chess players in the country of Canada, there are currently 16 total Grandmaster (GM) players. Fourteen of them being male (GM) and 2 female (WGM). Here are the ten best Canadian Chess players from Canada.
10. Aman Hambleton
Full name: Aman Hambleton
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1992
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 1220
Rapid: 2450
Blitz: 2552
Classical (Std): 2454
Profiles
Aman Hambleton is a Canadian Grandmaster. Born in Halifax in 1992. He moved to Toronto when he was just 6 years old. He started playing chess when he was only 5 years old. He obtained the title of International Master in 2013 obtaining his first GM norm that same year. His second GM Norm came at the Reykjavík Open, where he set out not to shave his beard until he got his third GM Norm and claimed the title.
It was only a few months later, during the Canadian Open Chess Championship, that he earned his third GM norm and a well-deserved shave after winning first place alongside GM Razvan Preotu. He is part of the Chessbrahs group of chess players, with whom he shares a Twitch channel, with great success, partly thanks to his great sense of humor. (Source: chess.ca)
9. Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
Full name: Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1988
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 1134
Rapid: Not rated
Blitz: Not rated
Classical (Std): 2462
Profiles
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon is a Canadian chess player. He won the Canadian U12 Youth Championship in 2000, thus representing Canada in the U12 World Youth Championship held in Oropesa del Mar, where he finished 9th. After some good positions in different tournaments, he obtained his title of International Master in 2004.
Six years later, after great tournaments, he obtained his title of Grandmaster, during the Olympic Games in Khanty-Mansiysk. He has represented Canada 3 times in the Chess Olympics, all between 2006 and 2010. This year he reached his highest rating, 2500, placing himself as the 5th best Canadian chess player at that time. (Source: web.ncf)
8. Yang Kaiki
Full name: Yang Kaiki
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1988
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 932
Rapid: 2384
Blitz: 2373
Classical (Std): 2481
Profiles
Yang Kaiki is a Canadian Chinese chess player. Born in Heilongjiang, China, in 1988, he began playing chess with his native country. He won the first Korea Open Chess tournament, held in Seoul in 2008. A year later, he achieved the title of International Master. In 2015 he shared first place in the 46th National Chess Congress in Philadelphia. In 2017, despite having played his entire life for China, he transferred to the Canadian federation. In March 2019, after winning the GM Round Robin Paracin in Serbia, he obtained the title of Grandmaster, in that tournament he also obtained his maximum rating, 2505. (Source: Chesschina.Net)
7. Razvan Preotu
Full name: Razvan Preotu
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1999
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 885
Rapid: 2532
Blitz: 2407
Classical (Std): 2485
Profiles
Razvan Preotu is a Canadian chess player of Romanian descent. He is currently the youngest Grandmaster in Canada and the second youngest to do so, after Mark Bluvshtein. He won his first tournament at the age of 7, in the Grade 2 Chess’n Math Association event in Toronto, 2007. Later he won the Canadian Chess Challenge three times in a row, in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
It was in 2014 when after achieving the rating of 2400, he obtained his International Master degree. Just two years later, after defeating several Grandmasters, he obtained a rating of 2500 to get his own Grandmaster title at only 17 years old. Its maximum rating was in 2019 with 2,527. (Source: gmrazvanblog.com)
6. Kevin Spraggett
Full name: Kevin Spraggett
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1954
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 812
Rapid: 2482
Blitz: 2516
Classical (Std): 2495
Profiles
Kevin Spragget is a Canadian Grandmaster, specifically the fourth to achieve this title. He is considered by many to be the best Canadian chess player in history. He is also the only Canadian to qualify for the Candidates’ level. He has won the Canadian Open Chess Championships eight times and the Closed Canadian Chess Championships seven times and represented Canada in the chess Olympics on eight other occasions.
To all these awards are added multiple outstanding publications in specialized magazines, and their titles of International Master (in 1975) and their title of Grandmaster (in 1985). It obtained its maximum rating in 2007, with 2633 points. (Source: spraggettonchess.com)
5. Nikolay Noritsyn
Full name: Nikolay Noritsyn
Title: International Master
Born: 1991
Federation: Canada
World Ranking: 675
Rapid: 2504
Blitz: 2527
Classical (Std): 2512
Profiles
Nikolay Noritsyn is a Canadian chess player of Russian descent. He is the only one on this list that does not yet have the title of Grandmaster. Born in 1991 in Kaliningrad, Russia, he moved to Canada when he was only 10 years old.
He won the Canadian Closed Championship in 2007 and with this victory earned his International Master title. He has been able to represent Canada four times in the chess Olympics: 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2018. (Source: wikidata.org)
4) Bator Sambuev
Full name: Bator Sambuev
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1980
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 658
Rapid: 2472
Blitz: 2526
Classical (Std): 2514
Profiles
Bator Sambuev is a Russian-Canadian chess. He won the Canadian championship three times. He was born in Ulan-Ude, Russia, in 1980, and in 1999, he obtained the title of International Master. In 2006 he obtained the title of Grandmaster. Just a year later, in 2007, he moved to Toronto, Canada, to join the Canadian federation.
His last major trophy obtained was in 2017 against Nikolay Noritsyn where a small mistake clouded Nikolay’s victory.
3. Eric Hansen
Full name: Eric Hansen
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1992
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 217
Rapid: 2579
Blitz: 2568
Classical (Std): 2606
Profiles
Eric Hansen is a Canadian grandmaster and one of the co-founding members of the chessbrahs twitch channel. He was born in California in 1992. He started at the age of nine with chess, as a way to control the problem of ADHD that he had been diagnosed with.
Eric won the Canadian Open Chess Championship in 2012. That same year he was awarded the title of Grandmaster at the 40th Chess Olympiad, in Istanbul. Apart from tournaments and their prizes, he is a successful streamer thanks to the chessbrahs channel that he leads with fellow Grandmaster Aman Hambleton. (Source: YouTube)
2. Anton Kovalyov
Full name: Anton Kovalyov
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1992
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 146
Rapid: 2585
Blitz: 2583
Classical (Std): 2631
Profiles
Anton Kovalyov is a Canadian-Ukrainian chess player. He was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1992. He tied for first in the Pan American Under-12 Championship, earning the title of FIDE Master. He represented Argentina in 2008 at the Olympics. Finally, in 2013, he joined the Canadian federation, which he continues to represent to this day. After dozens of tournaments, in which he has played more or less criteria, they are how great. In November 2017, Anton gets the highest rating from him, (2664) (Source: 2700chess.com)
1. Yevgueni Baréyev
Full name:
Title: Grandmaster
Born: 1966
Federation: Canada
Ratings
World Ranking: 132
Rapid: 2659
Blitz: 2678
Classical (Std): 2631
Profiles
Yevgueni Ilguízovich Bareyev is a Russian chess player. He was born in 1966 in Yemanzhelinsk. Since 2015 he has been part of the Canadian chess federation, becoming the best current chess player in Canada. Yevgueni’s career is successful as being the U16 world champion in 1982.
His other great success is getting 9 out of 13 possible points against the best chess players in the Corus Super Tournament in Wijk aan Zee during 2002. After them, he reached his peak of rating with 2739, ranking 4th in the world at that time. He obtained the title of Grandmaster in 1989 after an exceptional tournament.
After a career full of successes, he continues being active while writing books and training promising chess players, including Raznav Preotu, who has already appeared on our list,. (Source: olimpbase.org)
That concludes our list of the ten best Canadian Chess players.