No Indian in World top ten, World champion D Gukesh currently world #20

Is the Indian chess boom falling apart? No Indian chess player in world top ten

On the 1st of March, 2026, the official chess governing body FIDE posted that there are no Indian chess players in World top ten as per the updating rating list. Though later, they fixed the mistake of including former World championship contender GM Sergey Karjakin by saying,

"According to Article 0.2.1 of the FIDE Rating Regulations, a tournament and its playing schedule must be registered: 0.2.1 Not later than 30 days before the tournament starts, if one of the players in the tournament is rated in excess of 2700, or a female player rated in excess of 2500.

Due to an oversight in the approval process, the Russian Chess Crown match was included in the March 2026 FIDE Rating List in breach of these regulations. Once the error was identified, the Qualification Commission (QC) removed the event from the FIDE Rating System in accordance with the applicable rules.

As a result, Sergey Karjakin’s status has been changed to inactive, and he has been removed from the list of active players in the #FIDERating list. The FIDE Qualification apologises for any issues this may have caused with the release of the new rating list, and will work at improving the approval process in the future."

Though it was a mistake, as of 4th of March, only GM Arjun Erigaisi is a part of the World top ten list, while candidate GM R Praggnanandhaa slipped to 13th and World Champion D Gukesh falls to world #20. This is probably the lowest the youngster has been since he has reached the status of an elite chess player.

D Gukesh lost to Aravindh Chithambaram VR. in the sixth round of the Prague Masters 2026 which makes his third loss of the tournament. Gukesh has almost lost 32 rating points and is currently rate 2728.5 which is lower than six the candidates who will be taking part in getting a chance to challenge him later this year. With all the love from fans, support from sponsors and training from top coaches and teams of the World, what is not working for Gukesh? Gukesh is yet to score a win in the tournament and it already seems a hard challenge for the World champion to make a comeback.

While Praggnanandhaa and Arjun are also going through a rough phase it is the World chess champion who is getting the most share of the downhill spotlight. It has been also a long time that an Indian chess player has won a major chess event. While all the fans are eagerly waiting for the comeback of their favorite players, it is yet a deep concern of what exactly is not going their way.

We wish the best for the players and also look forward to see the names of Indian chess players in the World top ten list soon.