Hans Niemann shared his view on the difficulty of breaking into the FIDE Top-10 player rankings in an interview with Lichess.org on January 20. Hans highlighted the importance of securing invitations to the most prestigious tournaments and overcoming the “Open tournament limbo”.

Hans Moke Niemann

Hans Moke Niemann

American GM

“Becoming a Top-10 player is not a guarantee. It’s not an easy thing to do. You see so many players even now who are incredibly strong who struggle to make it to the Top-10.

I mean, making it to the Top-10 is mostly centered around: if you can make it into the Grand Chess Tour, if you make in Top invitations, if you can, sort of, avoid the limbo of playing Open tournaments. That’s really the crux of whether you become a Top player.

If you look at the most of the young guys, all of the Top players, they went through the same ecosystem of playing all the tournaments. They naturally improved, they had huge sponsorship and, of course, with their talent, they became Top players. But it’s not a guarantee for anyone to become a Top-10 player.”

🇺🇸 GM Hans Moke Niemann (2725) achieved a peak FIDE ranking of No. 15 in October 2025. Currently ranked No. 22, he is participating in the Tata Steel Chess 2026 Masters in Wijk aan Zee.

Credit: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess