 "D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi have entered the top five in the chess ranking for the first time. Images: Michal Walusza/PTI")
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) on Tuesday released the latest rating lists and there are two Indians in the top 5 of the Open section. While Norway great Magnus Carlsen leads the Open section with 2831 rating points, India’s Arjun Erigaisi (2797) and D Gukesh (2794) are third and fifth respectively. This is the first time Erigaisi secured the world No.3 banking, while Gukesh for the first time has become the number fifth in the world.
The jump in ranking has been fired by Arjun earning 19 Elo rating points to take the third sport in the ranking while Gukesh gained 30 Elo rating points after a historic Chess Olympiad.
The USA’s Hikaru Nakamura (2802) is second while his compatriot Fabiano Caruana (2796) is fourth.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is in the 11th spot with 2751 rating points while fellow Chennai Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa (2746) is in 12th. The next best Indian is Vidith Gujrathi (2726) at the 22nd rank.
Gukesh is also at the top of the junior ranking, while India’s Divya Deshmukh is the world no.1 in girls with a rating of 2501.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsDeshmukh, meanwhile, has crossed 2500 rating points for the first time and is now at the 11th spot in the women’s ranking. Koneru Humpy is the highest-rated Indian in the women’s ranking at sixth spot with 2530 ranting points.
Read: Indian women’s chess finally announces itself
China’s Yifan Hou leads the ranking with 2633 points.
While Koneru Humpy skipped the Chess Olympiad 2024, Divya Deshmukh played a starring role in the Indian women’s team winning a historic gold medal in Budapest.
Similarly, Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh propelled the Indian men’s team to the gold medal in the Open section for the first time. At the Chess Olympiad in Hungary, Erigaisi won nine out of 11 matches and drew two, while Gukesh won eight out of 10 rounds and drew two.
Read: Gukesh vs Liren Chess World Championship match be a walkover for the Indian?
Gukesh, who is scheduled to play against Chinse Grandmaster Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship later this year, recently received a lot of praise from Carlsen, who called him the best among the upcoming players alongside France’s Alireza Firouzja.
“It remains to be seen if Arjun is quite 2800 strength yet, but Gukesh is really really good. I think he is by far the best apart from Alireza,” Carlsen said.