Source: The Indian Express
Gukesh Dommaraju, the world champion, has fallen out of the top 10 in FIDE’s October 2025 chess rankings. At the same time, young Indian player Divya Deshmukh made a significant gain to reach 11th in the women’s rankings.
Gukesh’s Downfall
Gukesh, who became the youngest world champion in history in December 2024, has not been able to deliver great results lately. Gukesh’s first attempt to play a tournament as a reigning world champion was met with a 41st-place finish out of 116 players in his last tournament, the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand last month. Gukesh lost three games in a row, along with four draws. This performance cost Gukesh 15 rating points total and took him down from 2767 in September to 2752 in October. Gukesh has lost a total of 43 points from last year’s 2794 peak. Gukesh’s predecessor, Ding Liren, who was world champion from 2023 until Gukesh’s victory in December, is also out of the top ten and is in 18th place with 2734 points.
Divya’s Ascendance
In comparison, Divya Deshmukh has displayed remarkable form. She is now ranked No. 11 in the women’s rankings, having accumulated 2498 points. Divya just recently won the Women’s World Cup, which secured her a place in the Women’s Candidates Tournament. She also made an impression in the Grand Swiss Open section, where she defeated two grandmasters and drew with Gukesh.
Vaishali R experienced a positive month, successfully defending her Women’s Grand Swiss title, which raised her rating to 15th in the world. Koneru Humpy remains India’s top women’s player at No. 6. On the international scene, Zhu Jiner from China has reached a new career-high of No. 2 after earning points at the Fujairah Global Chess Championships.
Indian Players in Top 10
Although Gukesh has dropped, India still has two players in the men’s top 10: Arjun Erigaisi at No. 4 with a rating of 2773 and Praggnanandhaa at No. 5 with 2771, but he too lost 14 points at the Grand Swiss.
Global Leaders
Magnus Carlsen remains the world’s No. 1 player with an astonishing 2839 rating. He is one of only two players who are rated above 2800; the other is Hikaru Nakamura.
