Martinez Surges In December 2025 FIDE Ratings

The FIDE World Cup dominated chess headlines in November, leading to several changes in the December 2025 FIDE rating list. No one benefited more than quarterfinalist GM Jose Martinez, known primarily for his Titled Tuesday and other online blitz performances, who gained 23 points and rose 29 spots in the classical rankings all the way into the world top 50. Other beneficiaries included finalist GM Wei Yi, who reentered the top 10, and quarterfinalist GM Arjun Erigaisi, who made it back into the top five. The champion of the World Cup, GM Javokhir Sindarov, gained three spots for a career-best rank, to date, of world number 22.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100: December 1, 2025

But perhaps no player demonstrates the effect of the World Cup more than GM Alireza Firouzja, who didn't play any classical games at all in the past month at Goa or elsewhere, but gained four rating spots as other players' ratings fell. Firouzja is playing at the ongoing London Chess Classic, which will have an effect on the January 2026 rating list. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who lost 18 points this month, has gained back 17 so far in London.

For multiple reasons, largely because World Cup matches are often decided in tiebreaks, players can see their classical ratings fluctuate very differently depending on their exact path. Martinez, seeded 57th, nonetheless won in regulation in three of the first four rounds, including against eighth-seeded Abdusattorov, hence the sizeable swing for each of those two players. Sindarov, on the other hand, had a first-round bye as the 16th seed, and so his regulation wins provided less rating. And, when Martinez and Sindarov played each other in the quarterfinal, they drew both classical games, which benefited Martinez and harmed Sindarov. Sindarov went on to need tiebreaks in the last two rounds as well, and that's how you get the winner of the event gaining five points while the quarterfinalist who lost to him gained 23.

Newcomers to the top 100 in December—albeit some not for the first time—were GMs Saleh Salem, Aleksey Grebnev, Anton Demchenko, Aydin Suleymanli, and Etienne Bacrot. Several players already in the top 100 also gained double-digit rating on the December list, including GMs Sindarov, Alexander Donchenko, Amin Tabatabaei, Andrey Esipenko, Peter Leko, Sam Shankland, and Frederik Svane. All but two of them played in the World Cup: Demchenko gained points from the conclusion of the Slovenian Team Championship, while Tabatabaei reached a 2700 rating by winning the Bavarian Open. 

There was also some activity at the very top of the list. GM Magnus Carlsen has not been entirely inactive in classical chess, tacking on one rating point to his overall position this month following a cameo in the Norway Eliteserien, which happened all the way back on October 31 but only counts now because the two-day event leg did not conclude until November 1.

GM Hikaru Nakamura, meanwhile, experienced a near-repeat of last month: In his last tournament that finally passed the games threshold he needs in order to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament by rating, the Washington Dulles Open on November 6-10, Nakamura dropped three points despite scoring 4.5/5. That was not nearly enough to lose a ranking spot to third-place GM Fabiano Caruana, who was the highest-rated inactive player this month—having no need to play in this year's World Cup after already qualifying for the Candidates last year.

FIDE Circuit 2025 Top 10: December 1, 2025

In other Candidates news, Praggnanandhaa's elimination in the fourth round of the World Cup was bad news for players behind him in the FIDE Circuit, who had been hoping that Praggnanandhaa might qualify in Goa and leave the Circuit path to another player. With players two through five in the updated Circuit standings also having qualified for the Candidates by other means, Praggnanandhaa's World Cup elimination had the biggest effect on GMs Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, and Abdusattorov, all within four points of each other in spots six through eight in what is now likely an irrelevant battle.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 25 Juniors: December 1, 2025

GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus went 5/6 in his classical games in the World Cup—sweeping his first two opponents before reaching but dropping a tiebreak playoff against GM Richard Rapport—to move into fourth in the junior rankings. Grebnev, who made it all the way to the round-of-16, had the highest points gain among the top 25 juniors; at 15 points, it was the only double-digit gain in the top 23.

Despite their early defeats in the World Cup in the face of Sindarov's success, GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Gukesh Dommaraju held their top two spots over the Uzbekistani player whose teenage years end on December 8. Next month, only Gukesh will be a junior player from among these three, meaning Erdogmus could well be the number-two junior in January—with several years left before losing eligibility.

Despite shakeups within the top 25, there were no new members in the entire set. One player who has well over a decade to crack this list eventually is another Indian youngster:

Congratulations to Sarvagya Singh Kushwaha 🇮🇳 for becoming the World's Youngest Fide Rapid Rated Player!

Sarvagya was born in 2022 😳
He creates history by becoming a FIDE rated player at “3 years, 7 months and 20 days”😍
Incredible! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/VqS49Au3uK

— Rakesh Kulkarni (@itherocky) December 1, 2025

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100 Women | December 1, 2025

IM Polina Shuvalova gained 30 points and entered the women's top 10 as a member of the controversial FIDE team at the Women's World Team Championship in Linares, Spain, where she scored 8.5/9. Shuvalova, who has one of three GM norms needed to become a grandmaster, reached the 2500 threshold that is also a requirement for the title.

Other notable appearances in Linares included IM Nataliya Buksa playing her first classical games of the year, rejoining the active list in 45th place, and IM Padmini Rout, who reentered the top 100 in the 87th spot. GM Hou Yifan lost seven points, but still holds a 34-point advantage over second place GM Zhu Jiner, who did not make the trip to Spain.

Prodigy Watch: Charvi Continues To Rise

The Prodigy Watch by Chess By The Numbers founder Tai Pruce-Zimmerman tracks the progress of young chess superstars, with his "prodigy rank," 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 age, then the player would have a prodigy rank of 12. You can read more about Prodigy Watch here, while here's this month's update:

Prodigy Watch Top 15: December 1, 2025

Erdogmus and IM Faustino Oro each gained seven points this month and continue to be the highest-rated players ever for their ages. Other prodigies making gains this month include IM Ethan Vaz, who achieved a 2500 rating for the first time after scoring 19/27 across three tournaments, and FM Sergey Sklokin achieving his first-ever 2400 rating. Both players are now just norms away from their next title jump. The 10-year-old untitled Serbian Leonid Ivanovic gained a whopping 95 rating points, into the 39th-highest-ever rating for his age.

Prodigy Watch Top 10 Girls: December 1, 2025

The 11-year-old WFM Charvi Anilkumar only continued to make waves this month, gaining another 95 points and now ranking fifth all time among players her age. That doesn't even count the start to her performance at the ongoing Bali Festival, which runs through December 8 and thus does not become official until next month, but has already earned her the FIDE master title based on her live rating crossing 2300.

Sri Lankan WIM Devindya Gunawardhana made an even larger rating leap this month of 136 points, shooting her into the top 30 for her age.

All data courtesy of FIDE.