FIDE · FRA · October 2026
How many chess grandmasters does France have?
France has 60 chess grandmasters on FIDE's October 2026 standard rating list, the 6th most of the 89 countries with a grandmaster. Its federation (FRA) also has 133 International Masters, 16 Woman Grandmasters and 301 FIDE Masters among 37,752 standard-rated players.
- 60Grandmasters · Oct 2026
- #6of 89 countries
- 37,752Rated players
Monthly · FIDE standard rating list · FIDE standard rating list OCT26 (standard_oct26frl.zip)
France: titles and rated players, October 2026
Counts of players registered with the FRA federation on the list. Ranks are among the countries with that title on the same list. Each figure opens its record and evidence.
| Count | France | Rank | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmasters | 60 | 6 of 89 | 1,900 |
| International Masters | 133 | 7 of 123 | 4,307 |
| Woman Grandmasters | 16 | 11 of 63 | 539 |
| FIDE Masters | 301 | 6 of 166 | 9,794 |
| Standard-rated players | 37,752 | 4 of 200 | 569,652 |
| Female rated players | 3,243 | 3 of 194 | 63,203 |
Frequently asked questions
How many chess grandmasters does France have?
France has 60 chess grandmasters on FIDE's October 2026 standard rating list, the 6th most of the 89 countries with a grandmaster. Its federation (FRA) also has 133 International Masters, 16 Woman Grandmasters and 301 FIDE Masters among 37,752 standard-rated players.
How many International Masters does France have?
133 International Masters on the October 2026 FIDE standard list (7th of 123 countries).
How many Woman Grandmasters does France have?
16 Woman Grandmasters on the October 2026 FIDE standard list, counting women who also hold an open title such as GM or IM.
How many FIDE-rated chess players does France have?
37,752 players with a published standard rating on the October 2026 list (4th of 200 countries), of whom 3,243 are women. Inactive players still on the list are included.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each is a count of rows in FIDE's October 2026 standard rating list (https://ratings.fide.com/download/standard_oct26frl.zip) whose federation field is FRA. Players are counted by the federation they are registered with, not by citizenship. Grandmasters without a published standard rating are not on the list.
How the counts are made
FIDE publishes a standard rating list on the first day of each month. StatOrigin downloads the month's archive, pins its exact bytes (SHA-256 d83d5817c9a4…) and counts the rows by the federation field. A grandmaster is a row whose title field is GM; Woman Grandmasters are counted from the women's-title field. Players flagged inactive are still on the list and are counted. The evidence check recounts every figure from the archive.
Download the official FIDE rating list (standard_rating_list.zip)
Read the October 2026 list by federation, the grandmaster ranking of every country or the FIDE source page.
Cite this page
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to StatOrigin and FIDE.
StatOrigin. (2026). Chess grandmasters in France (October 2026) [Data set]. Retrieved October 22, 2026, from https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/france
"Chess grandmasters in France (October 2026)." StatOrigin, 2026, https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/france. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.
StatOrigin. "Chess grandmasters in France (October 2026)." Data set, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026. https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/france.
@misc{statorigin_chess_grandmasters_france_2026, title = {Chess grandmasters in France (October 2026)}, author = {{StatOrigin}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/france}, note = {Data set. Accessed 2026-10-22} }