BENGALURU, INDIA: World chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju has been reinstated in the top 10 of the world rankings for the month of March 2026. This happened after the International Chess Federation, or Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), rectified an error and admitted to an oversight in calculation on Monday, March 2.
“Due to an oversight in the approval process, the Russian Chess Crown match was included in the March 2026 FIDE Rating List in breach of these regulations. Once the error was identified, the Qualification Commission (QC) removed the event from the FIDE Rating System in accordance with the applicable rules,” the statement from FIDE read.
The regulation cited by the FIDE was Article 0.2.1, which says that if a tournament has male players rated above 2700 and female players rated above 2500, it must register its playing schedule at least 30 days before its starting date. This protocol meant that Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin’s status changed to inactive.
“As a result, Sergey Karjakin’s status has been changed to inactive, and he has been removed from the list of active players in the #FIDERating list,” the statement added.
This was because the Russian Chess Crown match was initially included in the calculation of this month’s rankings. After FIDE accepted its oversight, this match was removed, and Karjakin paid the price. Since Gukesh was earlier ranked 11th, he moved into the 10th spot after the Russian’s dismissal.
Gukesh Dommaraju surpassed the FIDE rating of 2750 at 17
Gukesh, at 19, is known to be a chess prodigy and the youngest undisputed world champion. He surpassed the FIDE rating of 2750 when he was just 17 years old, earning the right to be the youngest player ever to bag this acclaim. Gukesh was born in a Telugu-speaking family in Chennai, India. The son of an ENT surgeon and microbiologist, he dropped out of school in class four to focus on chess.
Most recently, Gukesh was awarded the Khel Ratna by the president of India, Mrs Draupadi Murmu, in the year 2025. He reached the zenith of his young career in 2024, when he became the youngest winner of the Candidates Tournament, successfully challenging Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship.
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