Praggnanandhaa tops Indian charts after Croatia win, soars to World No.4

R Praggnanandhaa (Pic: AFP)

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa officially became India's highest-ranked chess player after clinching the title at the UzChess Cup Masters in Croatia on Sunday. The 19-year-old now also holds the World No.4 spot on the FIDE Rating List for July 2025.

Praggnanandhaa accumulated a total of 11.7 Elo rating points across two recent tournaments, the 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial and the 2nd UzChess Cup Masters.

In an interview with ANI following his achievement, he said, "I became India's number one because of one point. So I don't think it really matters. These one or two points can go either way in one game. I don't think I'll pay attention to that so much. For me, more than that, the tournament that I just won was much more special. I mean, like for me, I take a tournament at a time. I don't pay too much attention to the like these one or two rating points that change."

His latest success was sealed with a crucial victory over local favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov, playing with the Black pieces on the final day in Croatia. This result pushed his live rating to an impressive 2778.3, allowing him to surpass reigning world champion D Gukesh (2776.6) and Arjun Erigaisi (2775.7) to become India's top-rated player.

Previously, it was Erigaisi who held the distinction of being India's No.1, but he slipped to sixth place in the global standings after drawing his game against compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram. Praggnanandhaa now sits fourth in the world, trailing only chess titans Magnus Carlsen (2839.2), Hikaru Nakamura (2807.0), and Fabiano Caruana (2784.2), while Gukesh occupies the fifth position.

On the women's side, GM Koneru Humpy moved up to World No.5 despite a slight dip in rating points, benefiting from shifts among other top players. GM Harika Dronavalli, meanwhile, gained 4.9 Elo points thanks to her performance at the 5th Cairns Cup, climbing to World No.12. Impressively, four Indian women continue to feature among the world's top 20.

India also maintain a strong collective presence in the elite ranks, with three players in the World Top 10 for a fourth consecutive month. Notably, this latest update marks a rare instance where no Russian player figures in the global top 10. That change was triggered by GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan, whose final-round victory over reigning World Blitz co-champion GM Ian Nepomniachtchi at the UzChess Cup Masters proved decisive.