We report the development of a widely tunable mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser based on a robust chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG). By applying mechanical tension and compression to the CFBG, an overall tunability of 20.1 nm, spanning from 2022.1 nm to 2042.2 nm, was achieved. The observed mode-locked pulse train from this fiber laser has a repetition rate of 9.4 MHz with an average power of 12.6 dBm and a pulse duration between 9.0 ps and 12.8 ps, depending on the central wavelength. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a tunable mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser operating beyond 2 mu m using a CFBG as a wavelength-selective element. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group