It is a historic moment for Indian chess as, for the first time ever, four Indians have entered the top 10 of the global chess rankings. Aravindh Chithambaram secured a significant win over Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa to clinch the sixth Stepan Avagyan Memorial chess tournament held in Jermuk, Armenia.
With this victory, Aravindh has moved up to the ninth position in the live world rankings with a rating of 2757.8. The other three Indians in the top 10 are Arjun Erigaisi (ranked fourth with a live rating of 2778.6), Gukesh Dommaraju (fifth with 2776.6), and Praggnanandhaa (sixth with 2774.2).
4⃣ Indians in Top 1⃣0⃣ as of today!
🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaisi #4 | 2778.6
🇮🇳 Gukesh Dommaraju #5 | 2776.6
🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa #6 | 2774.2
🇮🇳 Aravindh Chithambaram #9 | 2757.8🇮🇳 Indian chess OP!🤩 pic.twitter.com/O4BrVjiZ17
— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) June 7, 2025
“I could have probably won the tournament had that result gone my way” – Praggnanandhaa
While speaking to ChessBase India, Praggnanandhaa reflected on his performance: “It was a good tournament for me, but I still missed this one chance in the second round. I could have probably won the tournament had that result gone my way, now it’ll probably be tied for the first spot. Overall happy with my performance, I was mostly well prepared for almost all the rounds, just rue that game against Jonas otherwise I would have been on plus five.”
Despite finishing second, Praggnanandhaa’s performance was noteworthy and further strengthens his position as the frontrunner to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Circuit.
Both he and Aravindh will next be seen in action at the Uzchess Cup in Uzbekistan, which begins on 18 June. The tournament will also feature other top players such as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Arjun Erigaisi.
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