Vidit Gujrathi topples Viswanathan Anand to become India's No 1 chess player; storms into top 10 in FIDE world rankings

Chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi on Saturday became India’s new No 1 in FIDE’s live rating list after defeating Nodirbek Abdusattarov at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Netherlands’ Wijk aan Zee. As a result, Vidit Gujrathi surpassed Viswanathan Anand in the rankings, who had briefly retained the top spot among Indians from R Praggnanandhaa. Following his win over his opponent from Uzbekistan, Gujrathi has also broken into the top 10 of the FIDE World Rankings table.

Juist days back, R Praggnanandhaa had become India’s No 1 after he beat reigning world champion Ding Liren. However, Praggnanandhaa’s stay as India’s No 1 did not last long as Viswanathan Anand overtook him just a few days later. As a result, Praggnanandhaa has now slipped to the third place among Indians with a rating of 2747.2 whereas Anand is second with a rating of 2748. Gujrathi, the top Indian now, enjoys a rating of 2751.5. Teenager D Gukesh had also outclassed Anand to become India’s No 1 in chess in September 2023. That was the first time Anand was not officially India’s No 1 chess player in 37 years. At the Tata Steel Masters tournament, Gukesh is currently tied fifth along with Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Wei Yi with 7.5 points. R Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, is joint seventh with France’s Alireza Firouzja, both on seven points.