FIDE rankings: D Gukesh no longer in top 10, Divya Deshmukh continues to soar

FIDE rankings: D Gukesh no longer in top 10, Divya Deshmukh continues to soar

Gukesh Dommaraju, who became the youngest chess world champion last year, is not in the top 10 players in the October 2025 ratings list that FIDE released on Wednesday. The current world champion, who occasionally struggled at the FIDE Grand Swiss, had a miserable few weeks in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Gukesh lost three straight games and was held to four draws in the eleven-round Grand Swiss competition in September, finishing 41st out of 116 players. Over the course of eleven rounds, Gukesh dropped 15 rating points - 2767 in September to 2752 in October. Gukesh has dropped 43 rating points in the last 12 months, from his 2794 rating in October 2024.

With a rating of 2498, Divya Deshmukh is ranked 11th among the women. After winning the Women's World Cup, Divya qualified for the Women's Candidates tournament and competed in the Grand Swiss's open part, defeating two grandmasters and drawing with world champion Gukesh. It was an incredible month for Divya.

At the Women's Grand Swiss, Vaishali R successfully defended her title and earned 21 rating points. She is currently ranked 15th, which is also her highest till date.

With a rating of 2773, Arjun Erigaisi, ranked fourth in the world, is the best-ranked Indian chess player. Praggnanandhaa, ranked fifth, has a rating of 2771. During the Grand Swiss event, Praggnanandhaa also dropped 14 rating points.

With a rating of 2839, Magnus Carlsen is still ranked at top. According to the October rating list, Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are the only two players with ratings higher than 2800.

At world no. 6, Koneru Humpy continues to be the top-ranked Indian player among the women.