FIDE has announced the official shortlists for the inaugural FIDE Excellence Awards. FIDE published 10 nominees in 11 categories, including best players, best rookies, and others.

Best Male Player:

  • 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen
  • 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana
  • 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov
  • 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer
  • 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
  • 🇳🇱 Anish Giri
  • 🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaisi
  • 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R
  • 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja
  • 🇮🇳 Gukesh Dommaraju

Best Female Player:

  • 🇨🇳 Lei Tingjie
  • 🇨🇳 Ju Wenjun
  • 🇨🇳 Zhu Jiner
  • 🇰🇿 Bibisara Assaubayeva
  • 🇷🇺 Aleksandra Goryachkina
  • 🇺🇦 Anna Muzychuk
  • 🇮🇳 Koneru Humpy
  • 🇨🇳 Tan Zhongyi
  • 🇮🇳 Vaishali Rameshbabu
  • 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh

Best Breakthrough, Rookie of The Year:

  • 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh
  • 🇹🇷 Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
  • 🇦🇷 Faustino Oro
  • 🇮🇳 Gukesh Dommaraju
  • 🇺🇦 Anastasiia Hnatyshyn
  • 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer
  • 🇷🇺 Volodar Murzin
  • 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov
  • 🇺🇸 Andy Woodward
  • 🇨🇳 Zhu Jiner

Other categories include Best Non-FIDE Open Tournament, Best Non-FIDE Round-Robin Tournament, Best Federation, Best Chess Initiative, Best Team, Best Comeback, Best Creator, and Best Chess Player with a Disability. The complete shortlists are available on the award website.

The FIDE Excellence Awards is a program to honor outstanding achievements, held every two years. The inaugural 2026 Awards cover achievements from September 2024 to August 2026. The award ceremony will take place in September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan during the 46th Chess Olympiad.

Credit: Lennart Ootes