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Top 10 Intriguing Facts about Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian-French chess player. The player was born in June 2003 and he is the youngest ever 2800-rated player. He obliterated the record that had been set by Magnus Carlsen. Alireza also has a peak ranking of No. 2 where he held the position from 1^st December 2022 to 1^st May 2022.

Therefore, this article will explore the intriguing facts about this sensational sportsman who has achieved a lot in the field of chess at such a young age. Furthermore, this article can motivate chess enthusiasts to pursue their goals like Alireza.

1 His Background

Alireza Firouzja belongs to a Muslim Iranian family. Therefore, his ethnicity is Iranian. But he is an Iranian with French nationality. Despite growing up in Iran for most of his life, he recently started representing France while playing chess professionally.

His father’s name is Hamidreza Firouzja, but his mother’s name is unknown. Their occupation is also unavailable. Looking at siblings, he has an older brother named Mohammadrez Firouzja. Like Alireza, he is also a chess player. The age difference between the siblings is about 5 years.

2 He started playing at 8

Alireza Firouzja started playing at a young age which is interesting since it shows that he had a great talent. He started playing at eight years and at 12 years Alireza Firouzja won the Iranian Chess Championship in the under 12 categories. This is impressive as he was just starting out in the field of chess and had gotten good enough that he won a national championship.  The championship was held on Suwon and it kick-started his career in the professional chess league

3 He received the title of an International Master by FIDE

In 2016, Alireza had become the youngest person to win the Iranian Chess Championship title. By 13 years, he already had a FIDE rating of 2485. He then went on to play against a young talent known as Parham Maghsoodloo but he lost all three games. This can be attributed to the fact that he did not have a lot of experience

However, that did not change his rating as he received the title of an International Master by FIDE that year. The following year, Alireza Firouzja won against a super grandmaster known as Jobava at the 2^nd Stars Cup Tournament.

4 He was awarded the title of a Grandmaster by FIDE

In April 2018, he was awarded the title of Grand Master by FIDE for his brilliant achievements. That same year he won all three open events for Iran in the Asian Cup of Nations. Since November 2019, he has stopped representing Iran in his chess tournaments. Alireza started playing for his FIDE from December 2019 until June 2021.

In April 2021, he met his top chess player, Magnus Carlsen, for the first time and won the Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup. However, he faced Magnus again in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, but this time he was unable to secure a victory.

5 He became a French national and started playing for the country

In 2021, the chess player started playing for France. This was after he took on French nationality after having issues with the Iranian Chess Federation. While representing the French side, he had a peak rating of 2804 in December 2021 but his current rating as of August 2022 was 2778.

Throughout his career, he has played against grandmasters such as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Richard Rapport. This shows that he has had a successful career so far and he is still young which means that he still has time to realize his full potential.

6 His net worth

Alireza Firouzja has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million. His net worth consists primarily of income from playing chess professionally. He earns in various ways by playing games. Apart from that, there is no information regarding his other sources of income.

His net worth is a pretty good one as he is starting out in his career which is an indicator that he will grow it as he advances in his career. His net worth is also a motivation to people starting out in that field as they can see that they will be set financially also.

7 He has an active social media presence

Alireza Firouzja is very active on various social media platforms. He loves to stream on his Twitch and even has a self-proclaimed Twitch channel. He created his channel on June 5, 2018, and started streaming his chess online on his streaming platform. He abruptly stopped his streaming in December 2019. He hasn’t been spotted streaming in the entirety of 2020.

Finally, he made his comeback streaming in January 2021, during which month he streamed for 113 hours. Since his comeback, he has been very active on the platform, with monthly breaks. Also, his streams are averaging around 50 hours of playback each month these days. The channel currently has 98,000 followers. He left Twitch and is also active on other sites like Twitter and Instagram.

8 He loves travelling

The chess player loves travelling and has been to many countries which include South Korea. This preference is great and goes with his career as he is required to travel to different places for his tournaments. Him being a nature lover also goes well with his love for travelling as it allows him to explore new places and experience new things.

9 He has met with many influential people

With a career as an international chess player, Alireza Firouzja has met with influential people along the way. One notable person that he met with is France’s ex-prime minister Jean Castex. Being among influential people can be a source of motivation for others as it shows them that if they believe in their dreams, they can go far.

10 He is multilingual

Having been born in Iran and spent the majority of his life in the country before relocating to France, Alireza Firouzja is multilingual. This is interesting in that it is had to learn a new language when one is already grown but the player has mastered two languages.