August 2025 FIDE Ratings: GM Divya Breaks Into Top 15

The focus of this month's article will be on the women's rating list, as the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup brought many changes. GM Divya Deshmukh was the player of the month as she was the first IM to ever win the event and, through it, earn the grandmaster title.

The world's top 20 players overall were mostly inactive in FIDE events, though several elite players participated in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas and 2025 Esports World Cup (currently ongoing).

FIDE Classical Ratings (Top 100) | July 31, 2025

There wasn't too much activity for the world's top 20, with only two players having any change in rating. GM Wei Yi gained five rating points after beating GM Levon Aronian once in a four-game match held in China. Aronian won't be too upset about that, however, as he won the $200,000 first prize at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas before flying to Riyadh for the 2025 Esports World Cup. Those are the two tournaments the world's elite played, though they aren't FIDE rated.

Congratulations to @LevAronian for winning the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas 👏

He defeated Hikaru, Arjun, and Hans on his way to claiming #FreestyleChess victory! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NpapJMJ7oK

— Chess.com (@chesscom) July 20, 2025

Zooming further out to the entire top-100 list, now world number-53 GM Amin Tabatabaei had the biggest gain (+14), while GMs Peter Svidler and Shant Sargsyan had the biggest losses (-16). 

Notably, 14-year-old GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus broke into the top 100 and is now in the 88th spot. With a peak rating of 2642, he is knocking on the door of 2650. Erdogmus is the number-one highest rated player ever before his 15th birthday.

FIDE Circuit 2025 (Top 15) | July 1, 2025

The FIDE Circuit remains largely unchanged, except that GM Magnus Carlsen has appeared on the list after he played two events that counted: Norway Chess 2025, which he won to gain 29 points, and the GCT SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025, which he also won, gaining 15 points. Of course, if he were interested in joining the next Candidates Tournament—which he almost surely is not—he could get the spot by rating, so there's little incentive for him to win the FIDE Circuit.

FIDE Classical Ratings (Top 25 Juniors) | July 31, 2025

World Rapid Chess Champion GM Volodar Murzin gained seven points and overtook GM Raunak Sadhwani as the world number-four among players born 2005 or later. Slightly lower down, we notice Erdogmus had the biggest gain (and the only other gain) in the top 10.

GM Pranav Anand had the biggest gain in the top 25, jumping seven places on the list with a 24-point increase. At 2590, he is also at his peak rating, and close to breaking 2600 for the first time. The biggest drop was GM Elham Amar's 16-point loss, an "evening of the scales" for a player who only gained rating in the previous two lists, breaking 2600 for the first time last month.

FIDE Classical Ratings (Top 100 Women) | July 31, 2025

The Women's World Cup was responsible for great activity and significant changes in the ratings of the world's top women. The most striking change, however, is the 24-point loss for GM Hou Yifan, the world number-one who is often inactive. The Championnat de Paris 2025 Masters was her first event this year, and she suffered three losses there. The gap between her and World Champion Ju Wenjun is still nearly 40 points, however.

Chinese GMs Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, and Zhu Jiner all made gains in the World Cup, with Tan gaining 12 points after her third-place finish. The only other player to gain rating in the top-15 was Divya, who gained the most in that group. Far more important than the 15-point gain, however, was her first-place finish at the World Cup. With that, she earned not only $50,000 but also an automatic grandmaster title.

IM Oliwia Kiolbasa had the biggest gain, 32 points, to reach 2393 rating, though she's been over 2400 in the past. The most meaningful breakthrough was IM Leya Garifullina's jump of 27 points to a peak of 2477. She closes in on the 2500 rating required for the grandmaster title and holds one GM norm, which she earned last month at the Trophee Dole - Pasino Grand Aix 2025. The biggest loss was IM Olga Badelka's of 40 points. 

Prodigy Watch: Erdogmus Continues To Impress

The Prodigy Watch is an idea by Chess By The Numbers founder Tai Pruce-Zimmerman. It tracks the progress of young chess superstars, with an emphasis on those setting records.

His "prodigy rank" is a measure of how a player's current rating at their current age compares historically. If there are 11 players in chess history who have been rated higher, at or before the player's precise current age, then the player would have a prodigy rank of number-12. You can read more about Prodigy Watch here.

In August Prodigy Watch, Erdogmus and IM Roman Shogdzhiev retain their number-one ranks. Erdogmus, as mentioned above, became the second-youngest player to ever break into the world top 100 this month. We think it needs to be clarified that he is so spectacular for his age that a Prodigy Rank number-one might be underselling his strength. He isn’t just the highest-rated player ever at his current age, he’s 61 rating points ahead of the second best—a fellow named Magnus Carlsen!

Two other youngsters who made news earlier this month also saw the results show spectacularly in their updated Prodigy Ranks. CM Ashwath Kaushik’s amazing IM norm performance skyrocketed him to a number-seven Prodigy Rank as he gained 172 rating points, shooting up to 2264 a few days before turning 10 years old. And 10-year-old WFM Bodhana Sivanandan reclaimed her place in the open Prodigy Watch ranks, as her historic WGM norm performance and 129 rating point gain jumped her to a new career high rating of 2216 and brings her Prodigy Rank up to number-33 (she also sits at number-three in the girls’ rankings).

Zechen Yu, of China, gained 182 rating points after playing two events in France, and the 11-year-old’s 2297 rating earns a number-49 Prodigy Rank. Meanwhile Rizat Ulan (KAZ) and Matei-Andrei Badescu (ROU) both broke the 2000 barrier this month when neither has yet turned 10.
In the girls’ rankings, beyond Bodhana of course, there were several other notable jumps. WFM Prishita Gupta was rated just 1938 in June, but shot to 2218 last month and soared again to 2353 in August and suddenly the 14-year-old Indian rising star has a number-15 Prodigy Rank.

WIM Afruza Khamadamova (UZB) gained 83 points this month, rising to a number-28 Prodigy Rank as a 16-year-old as she exceeds the 2400 mark for the first time. WFM Batpelden Buyankhishig (MGL) gained almost 200 points at no older than 13 and debuts on our lists with a number-40 Prodigy Rank at her 2212 rating. And although she doesn’t quite crack our published list this month (limited to top-50), WGM Zoey Tang won the U.S. Girls Championship and rose to a personal best rating of 2381 and a Prodigy Rank of number-58.

All data courtesy of FIDE.