Sports
Praggnanandhaa Leads India’s Open Top 10 as Nihal Sarin Breaks into Top 20
FIDE released its November 2026 world rankings, showing R Praggnanandhaa as the sole Indian in the Open Top 10 at World No. 7 with a rating of 2763. Grandmaster Nihal Sarin entered the world’s top 20 for the first time, reaching a career‑best World No. 19 with a classical rating of 2720 after scoring 5 points from six games at the 41st European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro, where he won the individual gold medal on board two and added 11 rating points. India’s presence in the world rankings remains strong, with 13 players in the Open Top 100. Following Praggnanandhaa are Arjun Erigaisi at No. 12 and Viswanathan Anand at No. 14. Sarin’s rise places him at No. 19, while reigning world champion D Gukesh is ranked 26th with 2710 points. Other notable movements include Pentala Harikrishna and Karthikeyan Murali, each gaining 11 rating points to reach World No. 57 and No. 58 respectively; Leon Luke Mendonca lost 12 points and fell out of the Top 100. In the women’s rankings, India has 11 players in the Top 100. Koneru Humpy remains the highest‑ranked woman at World No. 9 with 2520 points, followed by Divya Deshmukh at No. 12 and R Vaishali at No. 24; Harika Dronavalli is ranked 26th. Deekshitha Modipalli suffered the biggest setback, dropping 87 rating points across three tournaments and falling from World No. 29 to No. 87. Federally, India holds second place in all three categories—Open, Women’s, and Mixed. In the Open rankings the USA leads with an average rating of 2719, followed by India at 2706. China leads the Women’s and Mixed categories, with India in second place in both. The latest rankings highlight India’s growing depth and continued strength in world chess.