• Born: Dec 9, 1987 (Age 30)
• Peak Rating: 2816
• Blitz Rating: 2906
• Rapid Rating: 2850

The brash and fiendishly talented American has been dividing chess fans and players ever since he burst onto the scene as a phenomenal internet blitz player

• Born: Oct 31, 1983 (Age 34)
• Peak Rating: 2810
• Blitz Rating: 2852
• Rapid Rating: 2851

Grischuk is the most vocal advocate of blitz chess among the elite

• Born: Oct 6, 1982 (Age 35)
• Peak Rating: 2830
• Blitz Rating: 2863
• Rapid Rating: 2830

The joker in the pack of world chess

• Born: Dec 11, 1969 (Age 48)
• Peak Rating: 2817
• Blitz Rating: 2827
• Rapid Rating: 2822

The undisputed World Champion from 2007-2013 and one of the greatest talents the game has ever known

• Born: Jun 17, 1976 (Age 41)
• Peak Rating: 2769
• Blitz Rating: 2797
• Rapid Rating: 2799

Peter Svidler has been described as an exception who could “get by on genius alone” in a world of ultra-competitive and hard-working grandmasters

• Born: Jun 8, 1994 (Age 23)
• Peak Rating: 2760
• Blitz Rating: 2799
• Rapid Rating: 2795

The 2013 World Junior Champion is one of a hungry new generation of Chinese players threatening to take the chess world by storm

• Born: Mar 12, 1987 (Age 31)
• Peak Rating: 2793
• Blitz Rating: 2808
• Rapid Rating: 2788

Radjabov broke onto the world stage as a teenager, earning the grandmaster title just after his 14th birthday and scoring a stunning win against Garry Kasparov as a 15-year-old in Linares 2003

• Born: Jul 14, 1990 (Age 27)
• Peak Rating: 2767
• Blitz Rating: 2880
• Rapid Rating: 2821

Born in the same year as Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi initially had the edge over his rivals

• Born: Jan 13, 1987 (Age 31)
• Peak Rating: 2750
• Blitz Rating: 2743
• Rapid Rating: 2735

Poland's top grandmaster is best known as one of Viswanathan Anand’s seconds, but since helping Anand defeat Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 his rating has risen dramatically

• Born: Mar 15, 1975 (Age 43)
• Peak Rating: 2816
• Blitz Rating: 2710
• Rapid Rating: 2790

Topalov is an even more spectacular example than Viswanathan Anand of a player whose career took off after Garry Kasparov retired from chess