Anish Giri
- October 2, 2025
Three-time Candidate Tournament participant (2016, 2020/21, 2026)
Ranking: highest world number three for two months in 2016
Highest FIDE Elo rating: 2798
Tournament career: winner of six super-tournaments:
Grand Swiss 2025
2x winner of Shenzen Masters
winner of London Chess Classic 2014, Tata Steel Masters 2023
and one more…
Chess Olympiads: three individual bronze medals
Why he deserved it:
Anish Giri initially narrowly missed this ranking because I thought that, given the era he plays in, he needed at least one more major title. During the completion of this series, Giri won the Grand Swiss 2025 and thus answered me very convincingly from afar, and I included him in the list.
Giri was born in St. Petersburg and represented Russia until he was fifteen. At that time, the family moved to the Netherlands, and Giri has been playing for this country ever since.
Giri has been followed for years by the reputation of a draw king, at least since his participation in the 2016 Candidate Tournament, where he drew all his games. In his next participation, he already had a positive score, and we are curious to see how he will fare in his third participation in 2026.
It’s hard to say what he himself would consider his greatest victory, whether the Grand Swiss or the title at his home super-tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 2023. On his way to this title, he even defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen.
In the rankings, he briefly reached third place, and his highest FIDE Elo Rating remained just slightly below the 2800 mark.
Why he isn’t higher:
Giri hasn’t spent that much time in the absolute top (top 5), and his tournament victories are as impressive as they are rare. However, he is very consistent, as evidenced by the fact that he played in the Candidate Tournament over a span of ten years. For a higher ranking, he would need more tournament titles and more time spent in the absolute top.
Best games:
Anish Giri vs Magnus Carlsen
Tata Steel Masters 2023
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.