FIDE April Ratings: Gukesh Drops to World No. 15, Abdusattorov Climbs to No. 4
The FIDE April 2026 rating list is out, and it tells a story of a chess world in flux. At the top, Magnus Carlsen still reigns supreme at 2840. Below him, the positions are shuffling fast.
The headline: World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has dropped to 15th in the world. The man defending the title later this year can't buy a win right now.
Gukesh's Slide Continues
Gukesh lost 16 rating points after scoring just 3.5/9 at the Prague Masters, dropping from 2748 to 2732. That puts him 15th on the live list, behind players like Jorden van Foreest and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. For a reigning World Champion, that's unusual territory.
To put it bluntly: Gukesh is having a rough 2026. He struggled at the Menorca Masters too, finishing with 4.5/10. His last convincing tournament result was the World Championship match itself back in December.
Norway Chess in May will be his next big test before defending his title against Sindarov later this year. A continued slide there would raise serious questions heading into the match.
Abdusattorov Takes No. 4
The biggest mover in the top 10 is Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The 21-year-old Uzbek gained 9 points to reach 2780, jumping from 6th to 4th after winning the Prague Masters for the second time. He swapped places with Vincent Keymer, who lost 14 points and dropped to 5th.
Abdusattorov has been one of the most consistent performers this year. With his compatriot Sindarov dominating the Candidates, Uzbekistan now has two players in the world top 11. That's a remarkable rise for a country that barely registered on the chess map a decade ago.
The Full Top 20
| # | Player | Country | Rating | +/- | |---|--------|---------|--------|-----| | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2840 | 0 | | 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2810 | 0 | | 3 | Fabiano Caruana | USA | 2793 | -2 | | 4 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | UZB | 2780 | +9 | | 5 | Vincent Keymer | GER | 2762 | -14 | | 6 | Alireza Firouzja | FRA | 2759 | 0 | | 7 | Wesley So | USA | 2754 | +1 | | 8 | Wei Yi | CHN | 2754 | 0 | | 9 | Anish Giri | NED | 2753 | 0 | | 10 | Arjun Erigaisi | IND | 2751 | +6 | | 11 | Javokhir Sindarov | UZB | 2745 | 0 | | 12 | R Praggnanandhaa | IND | 2741 | 0 | | 13 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | POL | 2739 | 0 | | 14 | Jorden van Foreest | NED | 2736 | +7 | | 15 | Gukesh D | IND | 2732 | -16 | | 16 | Leinier Dominguez Perez | USA | 2732 | -6 | | 17 | Le Quang Liem | VIE | 2731 | 0 | | 18 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | RUS | 2729 | +6 | | 19 | Richard Rapport | HUN | 2729 | -9 | | 20 | Hans Moke Niemann | USA | 2728 | -7 |
Curious how any of these ratings compare to yours? Our chess rating percentile calculator shows you exactly where any rating falls in the global distribution. Spoiler: even 2000 puts you in the top 5%.
Bodhana's Incredible Month
The most eye-catching number on the entire list isn't at the top. It's in the women's section, next to an 11-year-old's name.
Bodhana Sivanandan gained 98 points in April alone, reaching 2366. That follows a 105-point gain in March. In two months, she's jumped over 200 rating points and is now ranked 72nd among women globally. She's the youngest player ever to crack the Women's Top 100, and at 11 years old, she's already England's highest-rated female player.
Her trajectory is genuinely unprecedented. Rating gains like this are normal for beginners finding their level. They're not normal for someone already rated above 2100 who keeps accelerating.
Divya Deshmukh Enters Women's Top 10
India's Divya Deshmukh gained 13 points to reach 2510, entering the Women's World Top 10 at No. 10. The 19-year-old is one of the most talented players in the women's circuit and has been climbing steadily over the past year.
The women's top 10 remains dominated by Chinese players (five of the top five), but Deshmukh's entry alongside Koneru Humpy gives India two representatives.
| # | Player | Country | Rating | |---|--------|---------|--------| | 1 | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2596 | | 2 | Lei Tingjie | CHN | 2566 | | 3 | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2559 | | 4 | Zhu Jiner | CHN | 2554 | | 5 | Tan Zhongyi | CHN | 2535 | | 6 | Koneru Humpy | IND | 2535 | | 7 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | FID | 2534 | | 8 | Anna Muzychuk | UKR | 2522 | | 9 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | KAZ | 2516 | | 10 | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 2510 |
Other Notable Movers
Biggest gainers in the top 100: Pavel Eljanov (+23, now 2682) had a monster month in the German Bundesliga and Czech Extraliga, scoring 7/8 against 2588-average opposition. David Navara gained 17 points, Pranav Venkatesh jumped 16.
Biggest losers: Alexey Sarana dropped 25 points and fell out of the top 50. Daniil Dubov lost 18 and joined him outside the top 50.
Youth watch: Kazakhstan's Alua Nurman gained 65 points and shot up 37 places to world No. 25 among women. At the other end of the age spectrum, Nepomniachtchi gained 6 points and returned to the top 20 at 2729.
What This Means for the World Championship
The rating gap between challenger and champion is now striking. Sindarov sits at 2745, thirteen points above Gukesh's 2732. That's unusual in modern World Championship matches, where the defending champion almost always outrates the challenger.
If Gukesh's form doesn't improve before their match later this year, Sindarov could actually enter as the higher-rated player. Combined with his historic Candidates performance and endorsements from Carlsen and Kasparov, the Uzbek prodigy is starting to look like the favorite.
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