How many chess players are there in the world?
Nobody knows exactly. 605 million is an estimate. FIDE's rating list has 573,481 players (November 2026).
Who is the best chess player in the world?
Magnus Carlsen has the highest rating, 2823 (November 2026). Gukesh Dommaraju is world champion.
Who is the world chess champion?
Gukesh Dommaraju, since December 2024. His title defense begins November 24, 2026. Women's champion: Ju Wenjun.
Who is the best chess player in Sweden?
Nils Grandelius has the highest rating, 2596 (November 2026). The 2026 Swedish champion is Edvin Trost.
What is a grandmaster?
The highest title in chess. It takes a 2500 rating and very strong results. FIDE's list has 1,904 (November 2026).
What is a good chess rating?
It depends on who you compare yourself with. Of FIDE's active players, 12.5 percent have at least 2000 (November 2026).
How many chess games are possible?
So many that nobody has counted them. Only the start is counted exactly: 20, 400, 8,902 … The whole game is estimated.
How old is chess?
About 1,500 years, counting from chaturanga in India. More or less today's game is just over 500 years old.
Can a computer beat the world champion?
Yes. It first happened in a match of classical games in 1997, and today computers play far stronger than any human.
How long does a chess game take?
It depends on the clock: blitz about 20 minutes at most, rapid under two hours, classical several hours.
Every fact comes from the sources at the bottom of each page and, where possible, was checked across several sources. We counted the numbers from FIDE, the world chess federation, ourselves, from its rating list, most recently the November 2026 list with 573,481 players.
Updated November 9, 2026