The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes rating lists including "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors", "Top 100 Girls", and national rankings based on the average rating of each country's top 10 players and top 10 female players in classical chess. Ratings are calculated using theElo rating system.
| Federation (≥3 Players) | Players (Among Top 100) |
|---|---|
 United States | 12 |
 India | 11 |
 China | 6 |
 Russia | 6 |
 Uzbekistan | 5 |
 Azerbaijan | 4 |
 England | 4 |
 FIDE | 4 |
 Germany | 4 |
 France | 3 |
 Hungary | 3 |
 Norway | 3 |
 Serbia | 3 |
 Spain | 3 |
 Ukraine | 3 |
| Other | 26 |
The top 20 players were ranked on 1 November 2025 as follows:[1]
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2839 |
| 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2813 |
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2795 |
| 4 | Vincent Keymer | 2773 |
| 5 (tied) |  Anish Giri | 2769 |
| Arjun Erigaisi | 2769 | |
| 7 | R Praggnanandhaa | 2768 |
| 8 | Wesley So | 2764 |
| 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2763 |
| 10 | Alireza Firouzja | 2762 |
| 11 | Wei Yi | 2753 |
| 12 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2750 |
| 13 | Viswanathan Anand | 2743 |
| 14 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2742 |
| 15 (tied) | Richárd Rapport | 2740 |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2740 | |
| 17 (tied) | Leinier Domínguez | 2738 |
| Ding Liren | 2738 | |
| 19 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2732 |
| 20 | Hans Moke Niemann | 2729 |
| Federation (≥3 Players) | Players (Among Top 100) |
|---|---|
| China | 14 |
| India | 8 |
 Poland | 7 |
| RUS | 6 |
| United States | 6 |
| France | 5 |
 Georgia | 5 |
| Russia | 5 |
| Ukraine | 5 |
 Kazakhstan | 4 |
| Azerbaijan | 3 |
 Bulgaria | 3 |
| Hungary | 3 |
| Other | 26 |
The top 20 female players were ranked on 1 November 2025 as follows:[2]
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hou Yifan | 2620 |
| 2 | Zhu Jiner | 2579 |
| 3 | Lei Tingjie | 2569 |
| 4 | Ju Wenjun | 2565 |
| 5 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2540 |
| 6 | Koneru Humpy | 2535 |
| 7 | Tan Zhongyi | 2524 |
| 8 | Anna Muzychuk | 2518 |
| 9 | Kateryna Lagno | 2517 |
| 10 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2513 |
| 11 | Divya Deshmukh | 2505 |
| 12 |  Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2483 |
| 13 |  Stavroula Tsolakidou | 2479 |
| 14 (tied) | Alina Kashlinskaya | 2475 |
| Mariya Muzychuk | 2475 | |
| 16 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2473 |
| 17 | Polina Shuvalova | 2472 |
| 18 | Nana Dzagnidze | 2469 |
| 19 | Harika Dronavalli | 2466 |
| 20 | Nino Batsiashvili | 2461 |
| Federation (≥3 Players) | Players (Among Top 100) |
|---|---|
| India | 22 |
| United States | 11 |
| RUS | 8 |
| Poland | 6 |
| France | 5 |
 Turkey | 5 |
| China | 4 |
| Azerbaijan | 3 |
 Iran | 3 |
| Norway | 3 |
| Spain | 3 |
| Ukraine | 3 |
| Uzbekistan | 3 |
| Other | 21 |
Juniors are considered to be players who will remain under the age of 21 years for the duration of the current calendar year.
The top 20 juniors were ranked on 1 November 2025 as follows:[3]
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | R Praggnanandhaa | 2768 |
| 2 | Gukesh D | 2763 |
| 3 | Javokhir Sindarov | 2721 |
| 4 | Volodar Murzin | 2655 |
| 5 | Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş | 2651 |
| 6 | Ediz Gürel | 2648 |
| 7 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 2642 |
| 8 (tied) | Pranav V | 2641 |
| Raunak Sadhwani | 2641 | |
| 10 | Pranesh M | 2630 |
| 11 | Aditya Mittal | 2624 |
| 12 | Aydin Suleymanli | 2622 |
| 13 | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2620 |
| 14 | Aleksey Grebnev | 2617 |
| 15 | Marc'Andria Maurizzi | 2611 |
| 16 | Christopher Yoo | 2607 |
| 17 (tied) | Andy Woodward | 2605 |
 Denis Lazavik | 2605 | |
| 19 | Bardiya Daneshvar | 2602 |
| 20 |  Daniel Dardha | 2598 |
| Federation (≥3 Players) | Players (Among Top 100) |
|---|---|
| India | 13 |
| Kazakhstan | 10 |
| United States | 8 |
| FIDE | 7 |
| China | 5 |
 Mongolia | 5 |
| France | 4 |
| Germany | 3 |
 Peru | 3 |
| Poland | 3 |
| Turkey | 3 |
| Ukraine | 3 |
| Uzbekistan | 3 |
| Other | 30 |
Girls are considered to be female players who will remain under the age of 21 years for the duration of the current calendar year.
The top 20 girls were ranked on November 2025 as follows:[4]
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Divya Deshmukh | 2505 |
| 2 | Song Yuxin | 2448 |
| 3 | Lu Miaoyi | 2440 |
| 4 | Anna Shukhman | 2418 |
| 5 | Alice Lee | 2408 |
| 6 | Afruza Khamdamova | 2403 |
| 7 | Eline Roebers | 2392 |
| 8 | Zsóka Gaál | 2383 |
| 9 (tied) | Rakshitta Ravi | 2381 |
| Zoey Tang | 2381 | |
| 11 | Xeniya Balabayeva | 2360 |
| 12 | Nadya Toncheva | 2352 |
| 13 | Bat-Erdene Mungunzul | 2350 |
| 14 | Rose Atwell | 2349 |
| 15 | Alua Nurman | 2344 |
| 16 | Meruert Kamalidenova | 2343 |
| 17 | Melika Mohammadi | 2342 |
| 18 | Manon Schippke | 2339 |
| 19 | Machteld van Foreest | 2337 |
| 20 | Rachael Li | 2325 |
Every month, FIDE publishes a list ranking federations according to the average rating of their top 10 players. The top 20 federations in Open were ranked on 1 November 2025 as follows:[5]
| Rank | Federation | Average top 10 rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 2729 |
| 2 | India | 2717 |
| 3 | China | 2667 |
| 4 | Russia | 2651 |
| 5 | Germany | 2634 |
| 6 | France | 2629 |
| 7 | Ukraine | 2626 |
| 8 | Azerbaijan | 2625 |
| 9 (tied) | Spain | 2616 |
| Hungary | 2616 | |
| Netherlands | 2616 | |
| 12 | Uzbekistan | 2607 |
| 13 |  Armenia | 2602 |
| 14 | Norway | 2595 |
| 15 | Poland | 2590 |
| 16 | England | 2588 |
| 17 |  Israel | 2570 |
| 18 | Iran | 2565 |
| 19 | Serbia | 2562 |
| 20 | Turkey | 2556 |
The person which highest average score of FIDE ratings from August 1 (previous year) to January 1 of the year in which the Candidates Tournament has to be played, gets a chance to participate in the Candidates tournament, provided that the player has played at least 40 rated games between February 1 (previous year) to January 1 of the year of the Candidates Tournament and the person is neither the reigning World Champion, nor has he already qualified for the Candidates. If, out of all the eligible players, the highest average rated player denies the ticket to the candidates, the ticket is shifted to the next eligible player and if that player also denies the ticket, then the ticket is transferred to the player with the lowest sum of places in 2024 and 2025 final ranking lists who has neither denied the ticket nor has he already qualified for the candidates or is already the World Champion.
If, in any stage of these, two players are tied for the ticket (i.e. they have the same average rating), then a playoff match in classical format regulated byFIDE shall be a decider for the ticket.
Table below shows last updated ratings of chess players published by FIDE (1 November 2025)
| Ranking (Avg) | Ranking (Nov 2025) | Player | Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 | Oct 2025 | Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 | Jan 2026 | Average rating | Candidates | Total games played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2839 | 2839 | 2839 | 2839 | 2839.00 | Ineligible | 16 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2807 | 2807 | 2816 | 2813 | 2810.75 | Leader | 40 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2784 | 2789 | 2789 | 2795 | 2789.25 | Qualified | 40+ | ||
| 4 | 7 | R Praggnanandhaa | 2778 | 2785 | 2771 | 2768 | 2775.50 | Eligible | 40+ | ||
| 5 | 5/6 (tied) | Arjun Erigaisi | 2776 | 2771 | 2773 | 2769 | 2772.25 | ||||
| 6 | 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2776 | 2767 | 2752 | 2763 | 2764.50 | World Champion (Ineligible) |
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