August 2026 FIDE Rating List: Firouzja Back In Top 10, Erdogmus Overtakes Gukesh

GM Alireza Firouzja is back in the top 10 on the August 2026 FIDE rating list after his victory in the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters, while GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s last-round loss to GM Dmitry Andreikin saw him drop two places to eighth. For a second month in a row, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju suffered, this time dropping 14 points to 2703 after three losses in the same tournament—he also slipped below 15-year-old GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus on the Junior FIDE rating list. On the Women’s list, IM Polina Shuvalova climbed into the top 10 (+24 points) after scoring her second GM norm.

GM Magnus Carlsen extended his 15 years unbroken as world number-one, with the top five remaining unchanged on the August FIDE rating list.        

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100: August 2026

The event that shook things up at the top was the Chennai Grand Masters, despite the tournament being a seven-round sprint.

Firouzja beat GM Pranesh M and Gukesh in the first two rounds, then drew his remaining five games, to ease to victory and back into the top 10 with the gain of eight rating points. He climbed above GMs Wei Yi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, while Abdusattorov slipped below GMs Wesley So and Anish Giri to eighth place on the rating list after being punished for playing for a win—and a playoff with Firouzja—in the final round. Andreikin won that clash to make a successful return to playing classical super-tournament, gaining seven points.

Andreikin also overtook Gukesh, who suffered a miserable three losses and no wins in his first tournament in India since winning the world championship. Gukesh was somewhat unfortunate to lose two completely winning positions, but he also dodged a bullet in the final round—his sacrifice to force a draw against GM Hans Niemann had a flaw, which the American spotted but didn’t believe.

If Gukesh had lost that game he would have dropped below 2700, but as it is he’ll go into the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad with that Sword of Damocles hanging over his head on 2703.

🇮🇳♟ Introducing Team India for the FIDE Chess Olympiad!

India (Open): Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa R, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi
Captain: Srinath Narayanan

India (Women): Humpy Koneru, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Savitha Shri B… pic.twitter.com/Um9qX7JyLf

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 23, 2026

The other major event to shakeup the top 100 was the Dole Open in Aix-en-Provence, France. Top seed and two-time world championship challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi lost to GMs Aksel Bu Kvaloy and Gergely Kantor to drop 16 points to 2719, his lowest rating in a decade. 

The tournament was won by GM Robert Hovhannisyan (+14 points), who beat his Armenian colleague GM Haik Martirosyan (+9) in a playoff after they tied for first place. GM Leon Luke Mendonca’s third place (+15) took the 20-year-old Indian back into the top 100.  

Those two events also impacted the 2026-7 FIDE Circuit standings, with Martirosyan up to sixth place, GM Arjun Erigaisi up to seventh after finishing second in Chennai, and Firouzja entering the race for two Candidates spots in eighth place.

Firouzja also scored points for winning the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, while GM Javokhir Sindarov took over from Abdusattorov as leader thanks to winning both Naroditsky Memorial Rapid and Blitz. 

It has already been a year since you left us
May you rest in peace my friend
Chess won’t forget your legacy @GmNaroditsky

Thank you @CLTchesscenter for organizing this event pic.twitter.com/gRlp8hbEMu

— Javokhir Sindarov (@GMJSindarov) July 3, 2026

It’s notable, however, that rapid and blitz events will likely be unimportant for the overall standings—if players achieve sufficient scores in the higher-weighted classical events.

The Women’s standings were also relatively unchanged at the top, with Chinese GMs Lei Tingjie and Ju Wenjun losing points in the Chinese League, while GM Tan Zhongyi made a small gain.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100 Women | August 2026

The big mover at the top, however, was Shuvalova, who beat three GMs to finish second in the Oskemen Open in Kazakhstan, just half a point behind winner GM Andrey Esipenko.

That was Shuvalova’s second GM norm, almost six years after her first, so that one more norm will now earn her the full grandmaster title. 

Other notable climbers include 21-year-old Mongolian WIM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul, who burst into the top 100 at 52 after gaining 63 rating points, and 16-year-old U.S. star WIM Rachael Li (+60 to Women’s number 67), whose main gains came in the Girls U16 FIDE World Youth Chess Championship (+20) and the 13th Annual Washington International (+34)—joint second place in the Girls U.S. Junior Championship actually cost her a few points.  

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 25 Juniors | August 2026

We already flagged the headline on the junior rating list. The youngest player in the top 25 has taken over from the world champion, with Erdogmus gaining three points in the Biel Chess Festival while Gukesh slumped in Chennai. Erdogmus is now world number-27 at the age of just 15. 

Mendonca moved into the top 10 after a good performance in the Dole Open, while GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi dropped out, almost entirely because in round one he lost a spectacular game to 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan.

What a start to the Dole Open for 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan, who takes down GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi with some stunning tactics! https://t.co/41lQNFaXmb pic.twitter.com/sEuHm1nECA

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 18, 2026

She ended the tournament gaining 35 points to move to 2338, also scoring her first IM norm and becoming the sixth youngest player in history to beat a 2600 grandmaster. 

All data courtesy of FIDE.