Gukesh advances dramatically in the global rankings and ratings

With a 2,763 ELO rating, teenage grandmaster D. Gukesh has broken into the world’s top 10 chess players’ club. With a rating of 2,762, Gukesh, who is now placed sixth in the open category, is higher than World Chess Champion Chinese GM Ding Liren, who is rated seventh. Even more intriguing is the fact that GM Arjun Erigaisi, another rising star in Indian chess, is rated 2,761 and placed seventh in the world. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) reports that Gukesh earned twenty points for winning the latest FIDE Candidates Tournament, which was held in Canada.

Gukesh has entered the race to challenge Liren for the world championship, which she currently holds after winning the Candidates Tournament. Gukesh was rated 16th before the Candidates Tournament; therefore, his current ranking of sixth is a significant improvement. “I think Gukesh will have a minor advantage against Ding Liren. The world champion is an excellent athlete. When asked about the Indian’s prospects of winning a world championship, GM Susan Polgar, the former women’s world champion (1996–1999), told IANS that “he has not been very active and his form is not at its peak.”

Erigaisi, for his part, received five points on the FIDE rating list. Maybe this is also the first time that two Indians are included in the top 10 chess clubs worldwide, according to the FIDE ranking. FIDE reports that GM R. Vaishali scored 14 points in the Women’s Candidates Tournament, while two Indian Woman Grandmasters (WGM), Priyanka Nutakki (rating 2,357) and P.V. Nandhidhaa (2,359), scored 83 and 81 points in various rating competitions last month.