Gukesh’s slide continues as world champion falls out of top-10 in October FIDE ratings

D Gukesh has had his moments in 2025, but it has been largely been a forgettable year so far. The reigning world champion nearly won the prestigious Tata Steel Chess in February and had defeated world No 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in his career in June, but barely made a dent in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and also struggled in other important events such as Sinquefield Cup.

Gukesh then hit a new low in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand last month, where he suffered a hat-trick of defeats against lower-ranked opponents, and was nowhere among the top players in the tournament.

Gukesh falls out of top-10 as Arjun regains Indian No 1 status

It was going to be difficult for Gukesh to stay among the top-five players in the world in the Classical format while going through such an inconsistent form. And in the latest FIDE ratings list that was unveiled on Friday, the 19-year-old Grandmaster had slipped out of the top-10 less than a year after he defeated Ding Liren in Singapore to become the youngest world champion in chess history.

Gukesh occupies the 11th spot in the latest FIDE list for the Classical format with a rating of 2752, ahead of Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2750) but behind China’s Wei Yi (2754). He had lost 15 rating points during his underwhelming FIDE Grand Swiss campaign, having entered the tournament with a rating of 2767.

The top-three remains unchanged with Carlsen leading the pack with a rating of 2839, and is followed by American GMs Hikaru Nakamura (2816) and Fabiano Caruana (2789).

Arjun Erigaisi, meanwhile, regained the No 1 Indian status from R Praggnanandhaa after three months, moving to the No 4 spot with a rating of 2773. Pragg, who is currently among the front-runners to qualify for next year’s Candidates, completes the top-five with a rating of 2771.

Divya jumps to 11th in women’s list

As for the women’s ratings, Divya Deshmukh occupies the 11th spot with a rating of 2498 after winning the Women’s World Cup in Georgia recently, which helped her book her spot in next year’s Candidates Tournament. The 19-year-old had also competed in the ‘Open’ category of FIDE Grand Swiss, where she had held Gukesh to a draw.

Koneru Humpy, who had lost to Divya in the World Cup final but also qualified for the Candidates by virtue of a top-two finish in the tournament, remains the top-ranked Indian at sixth with a rating of 2535 while R Vaishali climbed to a career-best 15th with a rating of 2473 after her heroics in Samarkand, where she successfully defended her FIDE Grand Swiss women’s title.