FIDE Rating list March 2026: Gukesh is the only Indian in the World Top 10
The March 2026 FIDE Rating List brings a reality check for Indian chess at the very top. D Gukesh and Koneru Humpy are the only Indians in the world top 10 in the Open and Women’s categories, respectively. Arjun Erigaisi suffered a significant drop, falling from world No. 5 to No. 11 after the Tata Steel Masters 2026. However, in the Rapid and Blitz formats, Arjun continues to be the only Indian in the world's top 10. R Praggnanandhaa also slipped in the classical rankings, dropping from world No. 8 to No. 13 following his Tata Steel Masters 2026 performance. Koneru Humpy is the only Indian in the world's top 10, currently placed at world No. 5 in the women’s classical rankings. Divya Deshmukh stays at world No. 12 despite not playing any classical events in February, while R Vaishali and Harika Dronavalli each dropped two places, now ranked No. 18 and No. 20, respectively. Overall, India has twelve players in the Open and seven in the Women’s world top 100. Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Only 1 Indian in the World's top 10
The March 2026 FIDE rating list reflects results from major events, including the Tata Steel Masters & Challengers 2026, along with other international swiss tournaments that concluded by the end of February. India has only 1 player in the top 10 list, World Champion D Gukesh. Among the top 100, there are twelve Indians. They are: D Gukesh (World No. 10), Arjun Erigaisi (World No. 11), R Praggnanandhaa (World No. 13), Nihal Sarin (World No. 24), Vidit Gujrathi (World No. 30), Aravindh Chithambaram (World No. 34), Pentala Harikrishna (World No. 43), Murali Karthikeyan (World No. 70), Raunak Sadhwani (World No. 77), Pranav V (World No. 79), Pranesh M (World No. 89) and Aryan Chopra (World No. 92).
Women: Seven Indians in the Top 100
Four Indian women continue to feature in the world top 20: GM Koneru Humpy (World No. 5), GM Divya Deshmukh (World No. 12), GM R Vaishali (World No. 18), and GM Harika Dronavalli (World No. 20). Compared with February, GM Koneru Humpy climbed one place, GM Divya Deshmukh remained unchanged, and both GM R Vaishali and GM Harika Dronavalli dropped two places.
Countries
India continues to hold the World No. 2 position in terms of the average rating of the top ten players across categories, with no change from the February 2026 FIDE Rating list. In the Open category, India remains second, behind the USA by 33 Elo points.
India also retains the No. 2 position in the Women’s category, where the gap is 90 Elo points.
In the Mixed category, India dropped one place, with China leading the list. India trails China by 24 points.
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