FIDE · IRI · October 2026
How many chess grandmasters does Iran have?
Iran has 16 chess grandmasters on FIDE's October 2026 standard rating list, the 31st most of the 89 countries with a grandmaster. Its federation (IRI) also has 28 International Masters, 2 Woman Grandmasters and 89 FIDE Masters among 16,400 standard-rated players.
- 16Grandmasters · Oct 2026
- #31of 89 countries
- 16,400Rated players
Monthly · FIDE standard rating list · FIDE standard rating list OCT26 (standard_oct26frl.zip)
Iran: titles and rated players, October 2026
Counts of players registered with the IRI federation on the list. Ranks are among the countries with that title on the same list. Each figure opens its record and evidence.
| Count | Iran | Rank | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmasters | 16 | 31 of 89 | 1,900 |
| International Masters | 28 | 42 of 123 | 4,307 |
| Woman Grandmasters | 2 | 43 of 63 | 539 |
| FIDE Masters | 89 | 27 of 166 | 9,794 |
| Standard-rated players | 16,400 | 8 of 200 | 569,652 |
| Female rated players | 1,760 | 8 of 194 | 63,203 |
Frequently asked questions
How many chess grandmasters does Iran have?
Iran has 16 chess grandmasters on FIDE's October 2026 standard rating list, the 31st most of the 89 countries with a grandmaster. Its federation (IRI) also has 28 International Masters, 2 Woman Grandmasters and 89 FIDE Masters among 16,400 standard-rated players.
How many International Masters does Iran have?
28 International Masters on the October 2026 FIDE standard list (42nd of 123 countries).
How many Woman Grandmasters does Iran have?
2 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 Iran have?
16,400 players with a published standard rating on the October 2026 list (8th of 200 countries), of whom 1,760 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 IRI. 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 Iran (October 2026) [Data set]. Retrieved October 22, 2026, from https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/iran
"Chess grandmasters in Iran (October 2026)." StatOrigin, 2026, https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/iran. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.
StatOrigin. "Chess grandmasters in Iran (October 2026)." Data set, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026. https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/iran.
@misc{statorigin_chess_grandmasters_iran_2026, title = {Chess grandmasters in Iran (October 2026)}, author = {{StatOrigin}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://statorigin.org/statistics/chess-grandmasters/iran}, note = {Data set. Accessed 2026-10-22} }