The strongest chess countries. Which are the best nations in chess?

Every chess lover knows the names of the strongest chess players, and probably, their nationalities, too. But have you ever thought which countries are the best and which are in the top 10 list? 

So, here we present the detailed FIDE’s top 10 list of strong chess countries

Actually, there are many aspects that can be counted; that is the number of the grandmasters, their ratings, also the average rating of chess players and an average rating of top 10 players.

If the No.1 in the world is Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. Should that mean that Norway is the strongest nation․

In the tenth place of the most dominant countries is, chessy Armenia. Armenians have started to play chess since the Middle Ages and always were interested in that. But the fame of chess came when Tigran Petrosyan, Armenian Grandmaster became the 9th World Chess Champion.

So the symbol of Armenian chess is Tigran Petrosyan, who made chess popular there. Besides that, this country has something else which will surprise all the chess lovers, Armenia is the first country to make chess compulsory in schools, in 2011.

The chessy Armenia is considered to be a dominant nation at chess among other countries having only 3 million people. And the number of the grandmasters per person excels others.

The average rating of the country is 2642, and it has nearly  41 Grandmasters. The strongest player is the new symbol of Armenian chess Levon Aronian (peak rating 2830).

Poland, with 19 years old chess prodigy Jan-Krzysztof Duda can be the best chess nation. The average rating of the country is 2638, and it has 43 Grandmasters. The strongest player is Radoslaw Wojtaszek (peak rating 2750).

But, a new Chess genius Jan-Krzysztof, who earned grandmaster’s title, at the age of 15 years and 21 days, can be future World Champion. So it made him the second youngest grandmaster in the world at the time. Also, he became the second youngest Polish grandmaster ever, after Dariusz Świercz.

The French School of Chess is one of the best among other countries. Nearly 100 years, French chess players were the strongest in the world from the 18th century to 19th. The average rating of the country is 2642, the number of Grandmaster title holders is 49.

The strongest French chess player is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. His peak rating was 2819 which made him the sixth-highest rated player ever. Etienne Bacrot is the second player of French top list and the first player to enter the world’s top 10 list from France, his peak rating was 2700 in 2004. 

The name of Judit Polgar is enough for seeing the whole picture of Hungarian Chess, the best woman chess player ever. A living woman legend who achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years, breaking the record of Bobby Fischer.

This country is one of the dominant nations at chess, having 55 Grandmasters, the average number of the ratings are 2651. Richárd Rapport, Hungarian Chess Genius earned the title of Grandmaster at the age of 13 years making him the youngest Hungarian chess Grandmaster in the history of Hungary. 

The number one Azerbaijani player and already No.2 in the world Shakhriyar Mamedyarov represents Azerbaijan. Once being in the part of the Soviet Union this country gives the world strong chess players. The Average rating of Azerbaijani players is 2663, having 24 titled Grandmasters. 

The strongest player of this country is Shakhriyar, his peak rating is 2814. So, Shakhriyar has all the opportunities to be the No.1 in the world.

A country that invented this extraordinary game couldn’t be out of this list. A chess genius, living legend Viswanathan Anand is Indian strongest player and the 15th World Chess Champion. But that's not all, Vishy (peak rating 2817) became the first Indian Grandmaster(1988). India is also one of the dominant nations at chess, having 50 titled Grandmasters, and the average rating of Indian players is 2675. 

Ukraine is the number 4th in the strong chess nations and has a great number of chess grandmasters representing the country. The fact that Ukraine was part of Soviet Union, means that it was one of the most dominant countries in chess history.

The strongest player is Vassily Ivanchuk (peak rating 2787), former World Rapid  Chess Champion. Ukrainian chess players have average 2681 rating, overall the country has 91 grandmasters.

From Paul Morphy, Wilhelm Steinitz, Bobby Fischer, to Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So. Here are the names that are proud representatives of Chess history ever and they all come from the USA. Of course, America is one of the strongest chess countries in the world.

The trio of Caruana, Nakamura and So brought America into another level of being chess superpower. The average rating of grandmasters are 2700+, and the country has 94 grandmasters. Also, these trio is on the list of world’s top 10 players.

Probably there is no sport in the world that this country not excels, as if they have a special talent for it and chess is no exception for them. A country whose 6 players out of 10 best grandmasters, have 2700+ rating. Surprisingly, there are 3 million chess players, and 300,000 of that million are registered in the federation.

A Chinese female player Hou Yifan, the strongest woman grandmaster, is on the list of top 100 players in the world. The strongest male player of China is rising star Ding Laren who is ranked No. 8. China has over 45 male grandmasters and 38 female grandmasters. 

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It’s undeniable fact that the Soviet Union was chess superpower and Russia, the strongest nation in chess. Russian chess school was the best one amongst others. Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Garry Kasparov,  Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik.

Above mentioned, 16 World Chess Champions and 9 of which were Russian. What else can describe the power of this nation in chess? Nowadays, the biggest chess country has 243 titled grandmasters, nearly, equal to the total number of the top 9 countries’ grandmasters, together.

The rating of the first 12 Russian players is 2700+, which is an exception. The strongest Russian player is former World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik(peak rating 2817) who is also No. 4th in the world. So, without explanation, Russia still remains the best chess nation giving the world, the best chess players ever.

So, What is your opinion about best chess nations? Share our opinion with us.