The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has revealed the finalists for the first-ever FIDE Excellence Awards, a new initiative created to honour remarkable achievements and contributions within the worldwide chess community. The awards recognise excellence across players, teams, events, federations, individuals and impactful initiatives.
Introduced in 2026, the biennial awards acknowledge accomplishments over a two-year period. After an open nomination process in June, all submissions underwent verification before the final shortlist was confirmed.
The shortlist features ten nominees in each of the eleven award categories, which include six competitive awards and five special recognition categories. The selections were made by the FIDE Excellence Awards Jury, appointed by the FIDE President in consultation with the FIDE Management Board and the FIDE Excellence Awards Working Group.
The inaugural edition recognises achievements made between September 2024 and August 2026. The shortlisted nominees will now be evaluated by the FIDE Excellence Awards Panel, with winners to be announced at the inaugural FIDE Excellence Awards ceremony in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2026, during the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad.
The official shortlists are:
Best Chess Player (Male)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer, R Praggnanandhaa, Javokhir Sindarov
Best Chess Player (Female)
Bibisara Assaubayeva, Divya Deshmukh, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Koneru Humpy, Lei Tingjie, Anna Muzychuk, Tan Zhongyi, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Ju Wenjun, Zhu Jiner
Best Tournament (Open)
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, Aeroflot Open, Dubai Open, Grenke Freestyle Chess Open, Open Chess Menorca, Prague International Chess Festival Open, Qatar Masters Open, Reykjavik Open, Sharjah Masters, U.S. Open Chess Championship
Best Tournament (Round-robin)
Biel Chess Festival, Cairns Cup, Grand Chess Tour, London Chess Classic, Norway Chess, Prague International Chess Festival, Sinquefield Cup, Tata Steel Chess Tournament, TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, UzChess Cup
Best Federation
Chinese Chess Association, Colombian Chess Federation, Georgian Chess Federation, All India Chess Federation, Italian Chess Federation, Kazakhstan Chess Federation, Chess Kenya, Chess Federation of Serbia, Turkish Chess Federation, Uzbekistan Chess Federation
Best Chess Initiative
Armenian School Chess Programme, Chess for Freedom, Chess for Protection, Chess in Schools and Communities, ChessBase India Foundation, Freedom Asian Chess Initiatives (FACI), FIDE Infinite Chess Project, Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa, Queens’ Online Chess Festival, The Gift of Chess
Best Team
Ashdod Elit Chess Club, China (Open and Women’s National Teams), Dragon Chilling, Hexamind Chess Team, India (Open and Women’s National Teams), Kazakhstan (Open and Women’s National Teams), Team MGD1, United States (Open National Team), Uzbekistan (Open National Team), WR Chess Team
Best Breakthrough (Rookie of the Year)
Divya Deshmukh, Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, Faustino Oro, Gukesh Dommaraju, Anastasiia Hnatyshyn, Vincent Keymer, Volodar Murzin, Javokhir Sindarov, Andy Woodward, Zhu Jiner
Best Comeback
Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Vladimir Fedoseev, Pentala Harikrishna, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Parham Maghsoodloo, Anna Muzychuk, Tan Zhongyi, Wei Yi
Best Chess Player with a Disability
Jennitha Anto, Artom Andriienko, Griffin McConnell, Jamal Messala, Natasha Morales Santos, Łukasz Nowak, Jesus Osorio, Handenur Şahin, Marcin Tazbir, Jessica Lauser
The Best Creator category features Alexandra and Andrea Botez, Anna Cramling, ChessBase India, ChessBrah, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Leontxo García, Hikaru Nakamura, Levy Rozman, Sagar Shah and Simon Williams.
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