FIDE Rating list January 2026: Arjun Erigaisi in World Top 10 in all three formats

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/01/2026

Arjun Erigaisi had a fantastic performance at FIDE World Rapid and Blitz 2025. His double Bronze at the most exciting event of the year made him World no.3 in Rapid and World no.7 in Blitz format. Currently, he is the sole Indian to be in World Top 10 in all three formats. R Praggnanandhaa dropped to World no.8 and the World Champion climbed up to World no.9. Nihal Sarin's President Cup triumph in Tashkent, Uzbekistan moved him up to World no.25. There are now six Indians in Top 30. Among the Women, four are still in Top 20. IM Vantika Agrawal and IM Savitha Shri B are the only two women among top ten Indians to have gained Elo rating points. There are still seven Indians among Top 100 Women. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

A dozen Indians in World Top 100

What is the common factor between Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Arjun Erigaisi and Alireza Firouzja (FRA)? All four of them are in Top 10 in each of the three formats - Classical, Rapid and Blitz.

World no.5, GM Arjun Erigaisi's brilliant performance at World Rapid and Blitz 2025 made him World no.3 in Rapid and World no.7 in Blitz | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM R Praggnanandhaa dropped rating in all three formats to move to World no.8 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

World Champion, D Gukesh moved up to World no.9 from 10, despite not playing any Classical rated games | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Nihal Sarin gained 14.5 Elo rating points by winning President Cup Masters in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to move up by seven places and become World no.25 | Photo: UzChess

Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Vishy Anand, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi are in World Top 30 | Source: FIDE

There are twelve Indians in World Top 100 | Source: FIDE

Women: Seven Indian in Top 100

Four Indian women are still in top 20. They are - GM Humpy Koneru, World no.5, GM Divya Deshmukh, World no.12, GM R Vaishali, World no.16 and GM Harika Dronavalli, World no.19 among women. Vaishali moved up by a place, although she did not play a Classical rated game in December. IM Vantika Agrawal gained 6.3 Elo rating points at 6th Elllobregat Open A. IM Savitha Shri B added a total of 21.9 Elo rating points, 13.4 at 6th Elllobregat Open A and 8.5 at 12th Sunway Sitges Open A 2025. There are still seven Indians among the Top 100 women.

IM Vantika Agrawal increased her Elo rating by 6.3 points at 6th Elllobregat Open 2025 | Photo: David Llada / El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament

IM Savitha Shri B gained combined total of 21.9 Elo rating points from 6th Elllobregat Open and 12th Sunway Sitges Open 2025 | Photo: David Llada / El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament

Four Indians are still in World Top 20 among Women | Source: FIDE

There are still seven Indians among World Top 100 Women | Source: FIDE

Countries

India had the no.2 position in December 2025 FIDE Rating list in terms of average rating of top ten players in the Open, 13 Elo rating points behind the USA. The gap got increased to 15 in January 2026 FIDE Rating list. India is also no.2 in the Women category, the gap got increased from 91 to 95. In Mixed category, India remains at no.2 position. The gap getting increased from 13 to 15.