The pulse of professional chess, since the first Elo list
Photo: GFHund, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Amin Tabatabaei
Biography
Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei was born on 5 February 2001 in Tehran and is now one of Iran's two highest-rated players. He earned the International Master title in 2015 and was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in April 2018, a promotion built in part on a strong result at the February 2018 Aeroflot Open in Moscow, where he tied for 17th of 92 in the top group and picked up a further GM norm. Later that year he took outright second place at the Asian Chess Championship with 6½/9, a result that carried a berth into the FIDE World Cup.
At the 2019 FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Tabatabaei defeated Egypt's Bassem Amin in the first round before being eliminated in round two by the American Jeffery Xiong. That same year he won two open tournaments in Switzerland, the Biel Masters (7/9) and the Josef Kupper Memorial (6/7). He went further at the 2021 World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals before losing a rapid tie-break 0.5–1.5 to Vladimir Fedoseev, a run that earned him a place in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix series, where he finished second in his Pool B leg and won his Pool C leg outright, placing sixth overall in the series.
Tabatabaei has represented Iran on board two or three at three consecutive Chess Olympiads (2018, 2022, 2024), and continued to add tournament wins into 2024 and 2026, including the Aeroflot Open and the Reykjavik Open. His FIDE rating has climbed steadily across this run of results, reaching a career-high 2737 and a world ranking of No. 15 as of September 2026.
Key achievements
- Grandmaster title awarded by FIDE: April 2018 (International Master since 2015)
- Runner-up, Asian Chess Championship, with 6½/9: 2018
- Winner, Biel Masters Open (7/9) and Josef Kupper Memorial (6/7): 2019
- Quarter-finalist, FIDE World Cup: 2021
- Represented Iran at the Chess Olympiad: 2018, 2022, 2024
Ratings
| Date | Milestone | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Awarded the International Master title | — |
| Apr 2018 | Awarded the grandmaster title, aged 17 | — |
| Sep 2026 | Career-high rating — world No. 15 | 2737 |
Only the September 2026 figure is a confirmed FIDE list rating; earlier rows mark title dates, not rating values.
Classical Tournaments
| Year | Tournament | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Aeroflot Open, Moscow (A Group) | T-17th |
| 2018 | Asian Chess Championship | 2nd |
| 2019 | FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk | R2 |
| 2019 | Biel Masters Open | 1st |
| 2019 | Josef Kupper Memorial | 1st |
| 2021 | FIDE World Cup, Sochi | QF |
| 2022 | FIDE Grand Prix, Pool C leg | 1st |
| 2022 | Sunway Sitges Chess Festival | 3rd |
| 2024 | Aeroflot Open, Moscow | 1st |
| 2026 | Reykjavik Open | 1st |
Team Events
| Year | Event (Board) | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Chess Olympiad, Batumi (Board 3) | 5/9 |
| 2022 | Chess Olympiad, Chennai (Board 2) | 4½/10 |
| 2024 | Chess Olympiad, Budapest (Board 2) | 5/10 |
Source: OlimpBase (olimpbase.org) individual Olympiad records for Iran, cross-checked with Wikipedia.
Read more on Wikipedia or view his FIDE profile.