R Praggnanandhaa returns to world top 10, overtakes Erigaisi as India No. 1 on September 2026 FIDE list

R Praggnanandhaa has re-entered the world top 10 and displaced Arjun Erigaisi as India’s highest-rated player on the September 2026 FIDE rating list, rising to world number 8 with a rating of 2761. The 21-year-old gained 11 rating points that month.

This is his first appearance in the top 10 in seven months, a climb from a May rating of 2733 when he was ranked world number 17. The move up the list follows a strong run of results in St. Louis, where Praggnanandhaa won the Grand Chess Tour title.

At Norway Chess earlier in the season he was bottom of the table after six rounds before recovering with four successive victories to take the tournament. That comeback formed part of the turnaround in form referenced by his improved rating from May to September.

Praggnanandhaa carried momentum into the summer, winning the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz in August; he led from the first day to secure his maiden Rapid and Blitz title and collected $50,000 in prize money. He then shared first place at the Sinquefield Cup with Wesley So on five and a half points out of nine but lost the deciding Armageddon game in the play-off, a result that nonetheless put him atop the Grand Chess Tour standings heading into the Finals.

In the Grand Chess Tour Finals he beat Germany’s Vincent Keymer in the semi-final before meeting Fabiano Caruana in the final. After losing the classical portion and finding himself 3 to 9 down going into the rapid and blitz, Praggnanandhaa recovered to win the match 15 to 13 and captured his first Grand Chess Tour title.

The September lists show India with 15 players in the Open top-100, including Viswanathan Anand, Nihal Sarin, Gukesh Dommaraju and Vidit Gujrathi, and 11 Indian women in the top-100. The FIDE highlights accompanying the list noted Magnus Carlsen remains at the top of the overall rankings, Wesley So gained nine points to move to number 5, and Hou Yifan continues to lead the women’s list, while Deekshitha Modipalli and Kalyani Sirin were among the biggest movers for India on the women’s list.

Praggnanandhaa has not won the World Championship; his principal titles listed include runner-up at the FIDE World Cup 2023 and championships at Tata Steel Masters 2025 and Norway Chess 2026, and his Grand Chess Tour victory also earned him $200,000 in prize money and a place in next year’s edition of the tour.