In anticipation of the upcoming World Chess Championship, I decided to generate a graphic on global chess proficiency. These data reflect the long-standing stereotype that Russia produces many of the best chess players. On an individual basis, however, Russians are not the world’s best. Viswanathan Anand, from India, has been the world champion since 2007. In November, he’ll defend his title against Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who currently has the highest FIDE rating at 2870. (Anand has a rating of 2775).

Data source: http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml