FIDE rankings: Sindarov far ahead of Gukesh before their world title match

The FIDE rating list released on 1 November 2026 confirms an unusual power balance ahead of the Salesforce FIDE World Championship: Javokhir Sindarov enters his match against defending champion Gukesh Dommaraju with a lead of 72 Elo points and 22 places in the world rankings. With a little over three weeks to go before the match begins in Geneva, the gap raises real questions about the young Indian champion’s chances of keeping his crown.

A record gap since the title was unified

According to ChessBase, no challenger has ever shown such a ranking advantage before a world championship match since the title was unified in 2006. For comparison, Magnus Carlsen held leads of 74, 81 and 95 Elo points before his matches against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sergey Karjakin and Viswanathan Anand respectively, but without such a huge gap in world ranking positions. In the previous cycle, Gukesh himself had only a 55-point and 18-place lead over Ding Liren, whom he beat only in the very last classical game.

Gukesh, the historic underdog

Per Chess.com, Gukesh becomes the lowest-ranked player to contest a world championship match since 2006. No one has ever won such a match while ranked below world number 5, with the exception of Ding Liren in 2023 and Anand in 2010. The defending champion will have to rely on his experience as a world champion to overturn a clearly unfavourable prediction.

Nihal Sarin finally cracks the top 20

Another notable development in this list: Nihal Sarin climbs to 19th in the world, a personal best, fuelled by a 2859 performance and a score of 5 out of 6 at the European Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro. He gains 11 Elo points. Part of the golden generation of young Indian players alongside Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh, Nihal Sarin has largely had to progress through open tournaments, with fewer invitations to closed events than his compatriots.

Shake-ups at the US Championship

Wesley So wins the US Championship but gains just one Elo point, remaining world number 6. According to ChessBase, finalist Fabiano Caruana loses one point without moving from third in the world. Hans Niemann, meanwhile, drops out of the 2700 club after a disappointing US Championship, losing 20 points to fall to 2697 and 32nd in the world. Sam Sevian also falls sharply, by 24 points, down to 2684.

Among the women, Rachael Li and prodigy Sivanandan

Sixteen-year-old Rachael Li causes a surprise by winning the US Women’s Championship ahead of favourites Alice Lee and Carissa Yip, gaining 50 Elo points to move up to around 31st in the world rankings. Carissa Yip loses 31 points after a string of defeats, while Alice Lee becomes America’s top-ranked woman and edges closer to the 2500 threshold required for the grandmaster title.

The standout performance, though, belongs to Bodhana Sivanandan: at just 11, she gains 31 Elo points, crosses the 2400 mark and earns the International Master title, becoming the seventh-youngest person ever to do so and beating a 38-year-old record set by Judit Polgar. “I’m happy about that, but hopefully I’m able to get grandmaster soon as well!” she said, per Chess.com.

Next stop: Geneva

With such a pronounced gap in the rankings, the match between Sindarov and Gukesh looks set to be one of the most lopsided on paper since the title was unified. Whether the defending champion’s experience and resilience can offset his challenger’s advantage remains to be seen, in a little over three weeks in Geneva. For more on how these numbers work, see our article on chess Elo rating: how it works and how to improve yours.

Sources

• ChessBase — FIDE ratings – November 2026 (2026-11-02)
• Chess.com — November FIDE Rating List: Nihal Enters Top 20, Sindarov Leads Gukesh By 72 Points (2026-10-31)