Chess in Russia
Russia has 2,574 titled players on FIDE's list, 182 of them Grandmasters. Here is what that population actually looks like.
Russia is one of the largest chess federations there is, with 2,574 titled players. Its 182 Grandmasters are a small fraction of that — 7.1% — which is not a weakness so much as a different shape: a very wide base of FIDE Masters and Candidate Masters, and a thriving amateur competitive scene underneath the elite. This is what a mature chess country looks like from the inside.
The middle half of its titled players are rated between 2,141 and 2,343, with a median of 2,265. Across every federation the median titled player is rated 2,216, so that figure is the one to compare against rather than any absolute standard.
| Title | Holders | Share |
|---|---|---|
| GM | 182 | 7.1% |
| IM | 476 | 18.5% |
| FM | 1,246 | 48.4% |
| CM | 98 | 3.8% |
| WGM | 38 | 1.5% |
| WIM | 99 | 3.8% |
| WFM | 399 | 15.5% |
| WCM | 36 | 1.4% |
| Player | Title | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Kasparov, Garry | GM | 2,812 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | GM | 2,753 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | GM | 2,750 |
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | 2,719 |
| Jakovenko, Dmitry | GM | 2,682 |
| Tomashevsky, Evgeny | GM | 2,681 |
| Esipenko, Andrey | GM | 2,680 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | GM | 2,654 |
| Artemiev, Vladislav | GM | 2,653 |
| Dubov, Daniil | GM | 2,652 |
Counted from FIDE's published titled-player list. Titles are permanent and never revoked, so these counts include everyone who ever reached the standard and remains listed — including players long retired. A federation is where a player is registered, which is not always where they are from.