March 2025 FIDE Rating list: World Champion D Gukesh becomes World no.3, Praggnanandhaa World no.8

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/03/2025

The 18th World Champion, D Gukesh has climbed up to World no.3 in the March 2025 FIDE Rating list. It is his career high ranking. R Praggnanandhaa's fantastic performance at the 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025 moved him up by six places to number eight from 14. Aravindh Chithambaram and Leon Luke Mendonca gained 1.5 Elo rating points each at Bundesliga and in Wijk aan Zee. Pentala Harikrishna gained 8.6 Elo rating points at the Wimbledon of chess to return to 2700+ club. Seven Indians are currently in top 30 which is the highest ever. Koneru Humpy increased her rating by 4.6 points at FIDE Monaco GP. Vaishali R added 8.1 at Tata Steel Challengers to regain India no.2 spot. Photo: ECCC

Three Indians in World top 10

March 2025 rating list added is a good one for the Indians. D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram, Pentala Harikrishna, Leon Luke Mendonca, Koneru Humpy and Vaishali R are the top gainers. April 2025 rating list will reflect the changes of 7th Prague International Chess Festival 2025 which is currently undergoing in Prague, Czech Republic till 7th March.

GM D Gukesh gained 10.2 Elo rating points at 87th Tata Steel Masters to move to 2787 and become World no.3 | Photo: ECCC

R Praggnanandhaa gained 17.2 Elo rating points at 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Aravindh Chithambaram added 1.5 Elo rating points in Bundesliga | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Pentala Harikrishna increased his Elo rating by 8.6 points at 87th Tata Steel Masters and returned to 2700+ club | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

Leon Luke Mendonca gained 1.5 Elo rating points at 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025 to become World no.87 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Vishy Anand, Aravindh Chithambaram and Vidit Gujrathi are in World top 25 | Source: FIDE

There are still 12 Indians in World Top 100 | Source: FIDE

Women: Humpy stays World no.6, Vaishali returns to India no.2

Four Indian women are in top 20. They are - GM Koneru Humpy, World no.6, GM R Vaishali, World no.14, GM Harika Dronavalli, World no.16 and IM Divya Deshmukh, World no.19 among women. Humpy gained 4.6 Elo rating at FIDE Monaco GP where she finished second. Vaishali added 8.1 Elo rating points at Tata Steel Challengers to become India no.2. Currently, there are ten Indians among the top 100 women, same as last two months.

GM Koneru Humpy added 4.6 Elo rating points by finishing second at FIDE Monaco GP | Photo: FIDE/Niki Riga

GM R Vaishali gained 8.1 Elo rating points at Tata Steel Challengers 2025

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

Ten Indians are among World Top 100 Women | Source: FIDE

Countries

India was no.2 in February 2025 FIDE Rating list in terms of average rating of top ten players in the Open, 11 Elo rating points behind the USA. The gap got reduced to 7 in February 2025 FIDE Rating list.

India is just 7 average Elo rating points behind USA among Top Federations Open | Source: FIDE

India is at no.2 among Top federations Women, 57 average Elo rating points behind China | Source: FIDE

India is at second place in Top federations Mixed list, only four average Elo rating points behind China | Source: FIDE

Related news:

	Aravindh Chithambaram keeps climbing, becomes World no.21 @ 07/02/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Four Indians in World Top 13 @ 02/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)