Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi are among the 10 nominees for the best male player along with the enigmatic world number one Magnus Carlsen.

World Cup winner Divya, two-time world rapid champion Koneru Humpy and women's Candidates winner R Vaishali are the Indian names that feature in the shortlist for best female player.

Gukesh and Divya have also been nominated in the best breakthrough performance category for their respective global titles.

Established earlier this year, the biennial awards will celebrate excellence across a two-year cycle. The inaugural awards cover achievements from September 2024 to August 2026.

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has been nominated in the category for best federation.

"Each of the eleven award categories, comprising six regular categories and five discretionary categories, features 10 nominees selected by the FIDE Excellence Awards Jury.

"The Jury was appointed by the FIDE President in consultation with the FIDE Management Board and the FIDE Excellence Awards Working Group," the world body stated.

The selection process now moves to the awards selection panel, which will review the nominees and vote to determine the winner in each category.

The official shortlists are:

Best Chess Player (Male): Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer, R Praggnanandhaa, Javokhir Sindarov.

Best Chess Player (Female): Bibisara Assaubayeva, Divya Deshmukh, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Koneru Humpy, Lei Tingjie, Anna Muzychuk, Tan Zhongyi, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Ju Wenjun, Zhu Jiner.

Best Tournament (Open): Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, Aeroflot Open, Dubai Open, Grenke Freestyle Chess Open, Open Chess Menorca, Prague International Chess Festival Open, Qatar Masters Open, Reykjavik Open, Sharjah Masters, U.S. Open Chess Championship.

Best Tournament (Round-robin): Biel Chess Festival, Cairns Cup, Grand Chess Tour, London Chess Classic, Norway Chess, Prague International Chess Festival, Sinquefield Cup, Tata Steel Chess Tournament, TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, UzChess Cup.

Best Federation: Chinese Chess Association, Colombian Chess Federation, Georgian Chess Federation, All India Chess Federation, Italian Chess Federation, Kazakhstan Chess Federation, Chess Kenya, Chess Federation of Serbia, Turkish Chess Federation, Uzbekistan Chess Federation.

Best Chess Initiative: Armenian School Chess Programme, Chess for Freedom, Chess for Protection, Chess in Schools and Communities, ChessBase India Foundation, Freedom Asian Chess Initiatives (FACI), FIDE Infinite Chess Project, Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa, Queens’ Online Chess Festival, The Gift of Chess.

Best Team: Ashdod Elit Chess Club, China (Open and Women’s National Teams), Dragon Chilling, Hexamind Chess Team, India (Open and Women’s National Teams), Kazakhstan (Open and Women’s National Teams), Team MGD1, United States (Open National Team), Uzbekistan (Open National Team), WR Chess Team.

Best Breakthrough (Rookie of the Year): Divya Deshmukh, Yagız Kaan Erdogmuş, Faustino Oro, Gukesh Dommaraju, Anastasiia Hnatyshyn, Vincent Keymer, Volodar Murzin, Javokhir Sindarov, Andy Woodward, Zhu Jiner.

Best Comeback: Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Vladimir Fedoseev, Pentala Harikrishna, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Parham Maghsoodloo, Anna Muzychuk, Tan Zhongyi, Wei Yi.

Best Chess Player with a Disability: Jennitha Anto, Artom Andriienko, Griffin McConnell, Jamal Messala, Natasha Morales Santos, Lukasz Nowak, Jesus Osorio, Handenur Sahin, Marcin Tazbir, Jessica Lauser.