In the last list of the top Grandmasters in each country series, we went over the best English Chess players. Now in this article, we’re going through the ten best Russian Chess players from Russia. With Chess being so popular in Russia, many of these players are also ranked amongst the best Grandmasters in the world. We’re going in order from the tenth highest FIDE rated player to the number one spot.
10. Evgeny Tomashevsky
Title: Grandmaster
Born: July 1, 1987
Federation: Russia
Evgeny Tomashevsky was Yuri Razuvaev’s pupil, and he learned to play higher levels of chess at a young age. His first win occurred in 2007 when he won third place at the Russian Superfinal Championship. He became a laureate of the Fair Play award, given by the Association of Chess Professionals in 2012. He is currently married to Lidiya Tomashevskaya, a chess player herself who became a world champion in 2014, competing in the U18 World Chess Championships. They have one daughter.
9. Daniil Dubov
Title: Grandmaster
Born: April 18, 1996
Federation: Russia
Daniil Dubov, one of the few Super Grandmasters in the world, learned to play chess at six years old, and he earned the title of grandmaster a few days short of his 15th birthday. He is the grandson of Eduard Dubov, who used to be an international chess arbiter, a mathematician, and president of the Moscow Chess Federation. He was considered a child prodigy in chess, training under the likes of Mikhail Ryvkin and Vasilij Gagarin. He was also under the tutelage of grandmasters Sergey Dolmatov and Sergey Shipov.
8. Andrey Esipenko
Title: Grandmaster
Born: March 22, 2002
Federation: Russia
On July 21, Andrey almost won against the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE World Cup. Despite losing, he became everyone’s favorite player because even if he was 11 years younger than his opponent, they seemed to be on equal footing at the games. He is currently single regarding his personal life, and his net worth as of 2021 is a little under $5 million US dollars.
7. Nikita Vitiugov
Title: Grandmaster
Born: February 4, 1987
Federation: Russia
Nikita Vitiugov learned to play chess from his grandfather, who used to be a regional champion. Developing a love for the game led him to play under the tutelage of Alexey Yuneev, which made him a sports master candidate at the age of 10. He is also a writer, having published two books on French Defense, which titles are The French Defense: A Complete Black Repertoire which was published in 2010, and The French Defense: Reloaded, which was published in 2012. He also co-authored a tribute to Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi and has written several articles about chess.
6. Dmitry Andreikin
Title: Grandmaster
Born: February 5, 1990
Federation: Russia
Dmitry Andreikin transitioned to adult chess after enrolling at Saratov State Socio-Economic University and playing for the Russian Team Championship. It was then that he started playing seriously, leaving junior chess and his playful ways behind. This change in his demeanor towards the sport led him to win against grandmasters such as Ivanchuk and Karpov. Before joining tournaments, he trains by playing chess on his computer at home.
One of his strategies to winning is not revealing who his seconds are before any game, which gives them a surprise advantage over their opponents.
5. Vladimir Kramnik
Title: Grandmaster
Born: June 25, 1975
Federation: Russia
Vladimir Kramnik has been inspired by grandmasters such as Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Alekhine, and Garry Kasparov, who he beat at the Professional Chess Association world championships in October 2000. He was the 14th world chess champion, and he has been known to revive and perfect two chess moves: the Catalan Opening and the Berlin Defense.
4. Sergey Karjakin
Title: Grandmaster
Born: January 12, 1990
Federation: Russia
Sergey Karjakin earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records by being the youngest grandmaster in chess history. Shortly after becoming grandmaster, he became the official second to Ruslan Ponomariov, who was Ukraine’s grandmaster. However, patriotic differences led them to lose their friendship. Nevertheless, he won his first gold medal at 14 by winning in the World Chess Olympiad, and he went on to join the elite ranks of chess players at the age of 17.
He used to represent Ukraine but was recruited to play for the Russian team, which led to him becoming a Russian citizen as deemed by then-president Dmitry Medvedev.
3. Alexander Grischuk
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 31, 1983
Federation: Russia
Alexander Grischuk was a three-time world blitz champion, winning in 2006, 2012, and 2015. His first blitz championship was at the World Blitz Chess Championship in Israel in 2006. Chess has been the majority of Grischuk’s life, so much so that he used to be married to grandmaster Natalia Zhukova. After their relationship ended, he married Kateryna Lagno, another grandmaster.
2. Ian Nepomniachtchi
Title: Grandmaster
Born: July 14, 1990
Federation: Russia
Ian Nepomniachtchi has been rated in the top five players in the world for multiple years and has competed in the world championship against Magnus Carlsen. Nepo’s favorite chess player is Mikhail Tal, and his playing style reflects that of his idol. While Tal plays aggressively, Ian plays quietly; his aggression in the game is passive. His first coach was Sergey Janovsky, leading him to win his first few medals, then his international master title at 13.
1. Garry Kasparov
Title: Grandmaster
Born: April 13, 1963
Federation: Russia
World Ranking: 2
Aside from being a grandmaster, Garry Kasparov is also an author, a human rights fighter, and an inspirational and keynote speaker. He became Avast’s security ambassador in 2016, adding to his growing list of life achievements. He also built a foundation called the Kasparov Chess Foundation Inc., which aims to promote chess in the education of young children.
He actively participates in politics, promoting liberty internationally while opposing Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin. His interests involve cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, politics, and traveling around the world with his wife, Daria.
That concludes the list of the ten best Russian 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.