After a wretched FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan's Samarkand, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju has fallen out of the top 10 rankings in the October 2025 ratings list announced by FIDE on Wednesday. At the Grand Swiss tournament in September, Gukesh had ended in 41st spot out of 116 players having lost three games in a row and being held to four draws over the course of the 11-round tournament. Gukesh, the youngest world champion in history, lost 15 rating points—from 2767 in September to 2752 in October—over the course of 11 rounds in Samarkand. Gukesh was rated 2794 last October, meaning he has lost 43 rating points in the past year. Gukesh’s predecessor on the world championship throne, China’s Ding Liren, is currently in 18th spot with a rating of 2734. Divya Deshmukh, meanwhile, is also ranked no 11 in the women’s ratings list with a tally of 2498. Divya had a remarkable month winning the Women’s World Cup, which earned her a spot in the Women’s Candidates tournament and then playing in the open section of the Grand Swiss, where she beat two grandmasters and held world champion Gukesh to a draw. Vaishali R successfully defended her title at the Women’s Grand Swiss, picking up 21 rating points and reaching a career-high 15th place. Arjun Erigaisi, at world no 4, is the top rated Indian chess player with a rating of 2773 followed by Praggnanandhaa, who is world no 5 with 2771. Praggnanandhaa also lost 14 rating points at the Grand Swiss tournament. Magnus Carlsen remains the world no 1 with a rating of 2839. Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are the only two players with a rating over 2800 in the October rating list. In women’s ratings, Koneru Humpy remains the best-rated Indian player at world no 6. Meanwhile, China’s Zhu Jiner rose to world 2 after an excellent performance at the Fujairah Global Chess Championships – Superstars, where she earned 21 rating points and reached a career-high.
