Gukesh, Ju, Gotham & Co. — Announcing The 2024 Chess.com Awards Winners
Another year is upon us, and we're all looking forward to what 2025 will bring us. But before we look forward, let's take one last moment to celebrate the great things that happened to chess in 2024!
The community has voted, and we finally know the winners of the 2024 Chess.com Awards. Here are the best of the best of last year:
Jump to a category
Player Of The Year
It should surprise no one that the winner of the 2024 Player of the Year award goes to our newest world champion, GM Gukesh Dommaraju!
The Indian sensation became the youngest undisputed classical world champion in history and put on a jaw-dropping performance in the 45th Chess Olympiad. All while climbing the rating ladder and entering the top-10 list for the first time, making it to fifth place.
Gukesh is only 18 and has a bright future ahead of him. But after such a great year, he definitely has a lot to celebrate right now!
1st: GM Gukesh Dommaraju
2nd: GM Magnus Carlsen
3rd: GM Arjun Erigaisi
All nominees:
- GM Magnus Carlsen
- GM Fabiano Caruana
- GM Hikaru Nakamura
- GM Arjun Erigaisi
- GM Gukesh Dommaraju
- GM Alireza Firouzja
Woman Player Of The Year
The Woman Player of the Year went to none other than the world champ herself, GM Ju Wenjun! We have seen more of Ju playing against the world's top players and even beating one of the world's very best, GM Alireza Firouzja. Ju also left everyone amazed after completely dominating this year's Women's Speed Chess Championship.
In 2025, she'll have to prove herself once more to defend her title against challenger GM Tan Zhongyi. But in 2024, no one could stand in her way!
- 1st: GM Ju Wenjun
- 2nd: IM Divya Deshmukh
- 3rd: GM Vaishali Rameshbabu
All nominees:
- GM Ju Wenjun
- GM Tan Zhongyi
- GM Vaishali Rameshbabu
- IM Divya Deshmukh
- IM Carissa Yip
- IM Lu Miaoyi
- WFM Bodhana Sivanandan
Creator Of The Year
Yet again, the winner of Creator of the Year is… IM Levy Rozman! The world's biggest chess YouTuber won the award for the fourth consecutive year, an impressive feat no one else could pull off! In 2025, Levy will go on tour in Europe to meet his followers in person. But even in 2024, it seems no one is closer to their fans than GothamChess!
- 1st: IM Levy Rozman
- 2nd: IM Sagar Shah
- 3rd: GM Hikaru Nakamura
All nominees:
- IM Levy Rozman
- WFM Alexandra and Andrea Botez
- WFM Anna Cramling
- GM Hikaru Nakamura
- WGM Nemo Zhou
- IM Sagar Shah
- WGM Dina Belenkaya
- GM Daniel Naroditsky
- GMs Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton
- IM Eric Rosen
- GMs Fabiano Caruana and Cristian Chirila
- GM Jose Martinez
- NM Kevin Bordi
- GM Krikor Mekhitarian
- IM Andras Toth
- Mustreader
- Epic Chess
- chessmakta
Game Of The Year
There was no shortage of amazing games in 2024. However, one stood out: The 12th game of the FIDE World Championship match between GM Ding Liren and Gukesh.
The 2024 Game of the Year was a masterclass by former world champion Ding and reminded the world of the Chinese player's brilliance. With flawless play and a flashy sacrifice to end it all, Ding painted a masterpiece that will go down in history as one of the best games of his career.
- 1st: Ding vs. Gukesh, Game 12
- 2nd: Carlsen vs. Rapport
- 3rd: Gukesh vs. Ding, Game 3
All nominees:
Move Of The Year
The Move of the Year award goes to Gukesh's stunning rook sacrifice, 36...Rxf5!!, against GM Vidit Gujrathi in round eight of the Candidates Tournament. The move not only helped him win the game but also regain the tournament's shared lead. Eventually, Gukesh won the Candidates, paving the way for his title of World Champion.
- 1st: 36...Rxf5!! in Vidit vs. Gukesh
- 2nd: 11...Bxh3!! in Nakamura vs. Vidit
- 3rd: 10.g4!! in Caruana vs. Keymer
All nominees:
- 23...Re3!! in Maghsoodloo vs. Abdusattorov
- 12...Re1!! in Indjic vs. Svidler
- 11...Bxh3!! in Nakamura vs. Vidit
- 26...Rxb3!! in Fedoseev vs. Salem
- 30.Qg3!! in Vachier-Lagrave vs. Nepomniachtchi
- 36...Rxf5!! in Vidit vs. Gukesh
- 32.Nxf7!! in Tabatabaei vs. Praggnanandhaa
- 10.g4!! in Caruana vs. Keymer
Rising Star Of The Year
Juniors are getting scarier and scarier, but this year, no one made a bigger impression than GM Denis Lazavik. The young grandmaster came out of relative anonymity a couple of years ago to become a household name in 2024.
This year, Lazavik qualified for the second time for the Champions Chess Tour Finals, thanks to his good performance throughout the year. Though he didn't make it to the last stage of the event, he outlasted established players like GMs Levon Aronian and Wesley So. These results show that Lazavik's Rising Star of the Year award is more than well-deserved!
- 1st: GM Denis Lazavik
- 2nd: IM Faustino Oro
- 3rd: GM Yagiz Erdogmus
All nominees:
- GM Shreyas Royal
- IM Faustino Oro
- GM Yagiz Erdogmus
- GM-elect Brewington Hardaway
- GM Andy Woodward
- GM Denis Lazavik
ChessKid Of The Year
The ChessKid of the Year is the youngest player ever to win the award. In fact, he's also the youngest player ever to get a FIDE rating, and one that makes his accomplishment all the more impressive!
The award goes to three-year-old Anish Sarkar, who made headlines in 2024 after getting a FIDE rating of 1556. Not bad at all, especially considering that he has to climb over the table to reach his pieces and checkmate his opponents!
- 1st: Anish Sarkar
- 2nd: IM Faustino Oro
- 3rd: GM Yagiz Erdogmus
All nominees:
Commentator Of The Year
Well, here he is again. In 2024, the community once more elected IM Levy Rozman as Commentator of the Year! This is Levy's second award this year and the first time someone has won two consecutive awards in this category.
Maybe it's the excitement he brings to chess, or maybe how well he explains what's going on in a complex game. Whatever it is, Levy knows what the people want, and he's won many fans because of it!
- 1st: IM Levy Rozman
- 2nd: GM Daniel Naroditsky
- 3rd: GM Sagar Shah
All nominees:
- IM Levy Rozman
- GM Daniel Naroditsky
- IM Sagar Shah
- IM Danny Rensch
- GM Robert Hess
- GM Yasser Seirawan
- IM Tania Sachdev
- GM David Howell
- GM Peter Leko
- John Sargent
- GM Anish Giri
- GM Judit Polgar
- GM Pepe Cuenca
- NM Kevin Bordi
Book Of The Year
The best book of 2024 is about one of the best players of all time. The Book of the Year award goes to The Unknown Fischer by IM Cyrus Lakdawala. The book brings to light many of the brilliant games played by GM Bobby Fischer that escaped public attention. Lakdawala's selection of games is not only a source of chess wisdom but also great enjoyment to Fischer fans!
- 1st: The Unknown Fischer by Cyrus Lakdawala
- 2nd: Woodpecker Method 2 by Axel Smith
- 3rd: Winning Chess Middlegames Volume 2 by Ivan Sokolov
All nominees:
- The Unknown Fischer by Cyrus Lakdawala
- Deadline Grandmaster by Andrew Soltis
- Move by Move by Maurice Ashley
- Dream Moves by Miron Sher
- The Chess Revolution by Peter Doggers
- Woodpecker Method 2 by Axel Smith
- May the Best Player Win by Kyla Zhao
- The Life-Changing Magic of Chess by Maurice Ashley
- The Real Paul Morphy by Charles Hertan
- Tiger’s Chaos Theory by Tiger Hillarp Persson
- In Black and White by Paul van der Sterren
- Chess Coach: The Profound and Lasting Influence of Mark Dvoretsky by Vladimir Barsky
- Winning Chess Middlegames Volume 2 by Ivan Sokolov
And that's a wrap for 2024! We thank you for taking the time to vote for the 2024 Chess.com Awards, and we're happy to celebrate such a great year with you. Now, it's time to enjoy the year ahead of us, which will surely be another great one for the game. Happy New Year!
