Grand Master R. Praggnanandhaa has emerged as India's number one ranked Chess player after his victory in the UzChess Cup Masters 2025.19 year old Praggnanandhaa secured a win against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final match to bag the title on Friday.As a result of this win, Praggnanandhaa, with a live elo rating of 2778.3, rose three positions to move past reigning classical chess world champion D. Gukesh (2776.6) to become the top-ranked Indian player.
Praggnanandhaa is now also the World No. 4 ranked player. Norway's Magnus Carlsen with an elo rating of 2839.2 continues in the world number one position, he is followed by USA's Hikaru Nakamura (2807.0) and Italian-American Fabiano Caruana (2784.2).
Praggnanandhaa has been in great form in 2025 as the UzChess Cup Masters was his third title of the year earlier he also bagged the Tata Steel Chess Tournament and Grand Chess Tour Superbet Classic Romania. He had finished second behind compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram at the Stepan Avagyan Memorial held earlier this month in Armenia.(UNI)