(March 2006)
Among the 67365 names listed on the FIDE rating list for January 2006, 979 sported the prestigious grandmaster (GM) title.
The 979 GMs represented 78 different federations.
The ten federations with the most GMs are shown in the next table.
Most of the three-letter federation codes should be self-explanatory -- RUS for Russia, GER for Germany, and USA for the United States of America -- but the code in the fifth position may not be as obvious : SCG.
GMs per Federation (2006)
|
GMs |
RUS |
155 |
GER |
61 |
USA |
60 |
UKR |
53 |
SCG |
50 |
HUN |
36 |
ENG |
33 |
ISR |
33 |
FRA |
29 |
ESP |
24 |
The code SCG is an acronym which stands for 'Srbija i Crna Gora', better known to English speakers as 'Serbia and Montenegro', which may be better known to many as ex-Yugoslavia.
For many years Yugoslavia was one of the world's top chess playing countries, second only to the USSR and the USA in the medal harvest at the biennial chess Olympiad.
The FIDE rating lists for the years 1990 to 2004 reflect the breakup of Yugoslavia into five separate countries followed by the agreed name changes.
The big breakup occurred in 1991. The 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' became 'Macedonia' in 2001, and 'Yugoslavia' became 'Serbia and Montenegro' (SCG) in 2004.
Players per Federation
|
1990 |
1991 |
... |
2000 |
2001 |
... |
2003 |
2004 |
BIH |
|
48 |
... |
104 |
114 |
... |
132 |
158 |
CRO |
|
200 |
... |
493 |
539 |
... |
670 |
773 |
FRM |
|
44 |
... |
157 |
|
|
|
|
MKD |
|
|
|
|
160 |
... |
175 |
178 |
SCG |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2069 |
SLO |
|
91 |
... |
268 |
285 |
... |
326 |
368 |
YUG |
1047 |
777 |
... |
1683 |
1802 |
... |
1928 |
|
If you count population, none of the modern Balkan states are big countries. If you count chess GMS, all of them are.
|
Federation/Country |
Population (millions, 2004 est.) |
GMs |
BIH |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
4.0 |
5 |
CRO |
Croatia |
4.5 |
18 |
FRM |
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) |
|
|
MKD |
Macedonia |
2.1 |
8 |
SCG |
Serbia and Montenegro |
10.8 |
50 |
SLO |
Slovenia |
2.0 |
8 |
YUG |
Yugoslavia |
|
|
For our photo gallery from the 2006
SCG Championship, or for more about chess in Serbia and Montenegro, see the link box in the upper right corner of this article.
***
Serbia and Montenegro
Image: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Previous Articles