2026 – Jorden Van Foreest

Currently ranked 15th in the world, Jorden van Foreest has been on a roll of late with several recent outstanding results putting him among the best players in the world. 

Jorden van Foreest was introduced to the game at the age of six by his father but did not start to play regularly until he was nine, a late start by today’s standards. This belated introduction to the game didn’t prevent the young Dutchman from making quick progress. Van Forrest won the European Under 14 Championship in 2013 and earned the International Master title the following year. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 2016 and won the Dutch Championship for the first time that year with a performance rating of 2819.  

Van Foreest crossed over 2600 for the first time in the summer of 2016 but it would take him nearly five years to reach 2700 and entry into the top forty players in the world. He reached this landmark achievement in style on home ground by winning the 83rd Tata Steel Masters in 2021, the first Dutch player to do so since Jan Timman in 1985. 

Another five years would pass before van Foreest made his next leap forward. Between January 2021 and January 2026 his rating bounced between 2660 and 2700 but outstanding performances this year at the Tata Steel Masters and the Prague Masters and a convincing win 4.5-1.5 match victory over rising young Turkish star Ediz Gurel have earned van Forrest a place in the world elite.

The name van Foreest has an honored place in Dutch chess. Jorden’s brother Lucas is also a Grandmaster and his sister Machteld a Woman Grandmaster and Dutch Women’s Champion in 2022 and 2025. Van Foreest’s great-great-grandfather Arnold was a three-time Dutch chess champion, as was Arnold’s brother Dirk.