Uzbekistan win the Olympiad at home, Abdusattorov climbs to No. 5
By Louis · October 1, 2026 · 6 min read
Photo: FIDEUzbekistan won the Chess Olympiad on home soil in Samarkand. India took silver after a 2–2 draw with Hungary in the last round, in which Gleb Dudin beat Gukesh, and Germany's bronze is their first medal since 2000. Nodirbek Abdusattorov took gold on board one, gained 18 points and climbs from No. 7 to No. 5. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 15, reached 2731, the highest rating of any player in the year he turned 15 on FIDE lists since 2001. Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, completed her woman grandmaster norms: once FIDE ratifies the title, no player will have become a WGM younger. Gukesh, who defends his world title against Javokhir Sindarov in Geneva in November, is only No. 28 at 2710. Among women, Zhu Jiner won team and board-one gold with China and climbs from No. 4 to No. 2.
World top 10
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura sat out the Olympiad: Carlsen holds No. 1 at 2823, ahead of Nakamura at 2792. Fabiano Caruana holds No. 3 despite -5.4 at the Chess Olympiad (open). Javokhir Sindarov, 21, holds No. 4 and reaches a career-high 2782 (FIDE lists since 2001), 2 points behind Caruana. Wesley So slips from No. 5 to No. 6 after -4.2 at the Chess Olympiad (open), and Vincent Keymer from No. 6 to No. 8 after -3.2 at the Chess Olympiad (open). Pragg climbs from No. 8 to No. 7. Wei Yi returns to the top 10 at No. 9.
Top 100 — who moved
Three players enter the world top 100. Denis Lazavik (20) climbs from No. 104 to No. 84 after +15.2 at the Chess Olympiad (open), a career-high 2636 (FIDE lists since 2001). Inside the top 100, Yakubboev gains 27 points and climbs from No. 39 to No. 26, and Shant Sargsyan climbs from No. 94 to No. 67 after +17.6 at the Chess Olympiad (open).
| # | Player | Federation | Elo | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 84 |  GMDenis Lazavik | BLR | 2636 | +15 |
| 97 |  GMJonas Buhl Bjerre | DEN | 2627 | +12 |
| 100 |  GMJaime Santos Latasa | ESP | 2626 | +11 |
| # | Player | Federation | Elo | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 |  GMShant Sargsyan | ARM | 2648 | +18 |
| 26 |  GMNodirbek Yakubboev | UZB | 2712 | +27 |
| 60 |  GMBogdan-Daniel Deac | ROU | 2654 | +10 |
| 52 |  GMMahammad Muradli | AZE | 2662 | +9 |
| 64 |  GMIgor Kovalenko | UKR | 2651 | +9 |
| 87 |  GMMikhail Antipov | USA | 2633 | +5 |
| 74 |  GMEdiz Gurel | TUR | 2642 | +6 |
| 84 |  GMAbhimanyu Mishra | USA | 2636 | +6 |
| 17 |  GMYagiz Kaan Erdogmus | TUR | 2731 | +15 |
| 41 |  GMAydin Suleymanli | AZE | 2679 | +15 |
Women's top 10
Hou Yifan holds No. 1 at 2596. Zhu Jiner's climb to No. 2 pushes Ju Wenjun to No. 3 and Lei Tingjie to No. 4, both on unchanged ratings. Humpy Koneru holds No. 9 after +9.3 at the Chess Olympiad (women).
Six players enter the women's top 100. Mariam Mkrtchyan climbs from No. 68 to No. 32 after +47.0 at the Chess Olympiad (women) with 9 points.
Full women's ranking →
Beyond the top 10
Nodirbek Yakubboev crosses 2700 for the first time on FIDE lists since 2001, now at 2712, after +13.9 at the Chess Olympiad (open) and +12.8 at the Yakubboev–Tabatabaei match. At the Olympiad, Homayoun Mohtaat of Afghanistan, 54, rated 1928, beat grandmaster Khumoyun Begmuratov (2514), a 586-point gap. No new grandmaster appears on the October list, but 31 players are new FIDE masters and 54 new candidate masters.
New titles
The October list brings 4 new international masters, 31 new FIDE masters, 2 new woman international masters, 54 new candidate masters, 11 new woman FIDE masters and 11 new woman candidate masters.
Juniors — under 20
Erdogmus holds No. 1 under 20 at 2731, ahead of Gukesh at 2710. Among girls, Alice Lee (17) climbs from No. 4 to No. 1 at 2467 after +14.2 at the Chess Olympiad (women), ahead of Anastasiia Hnatyshyn. 70 active players aged 20 or under are rated 2500+, against 56 of the same age a year ago; 264 are rated 2400+, against 229.
Full U20 ranking →
Magnus Carlsen has held the world No. 1 the longest
Magnus Carlsen has been No. 1 since Jul 2011, and no one has spent longer at the top: 16 years and 4 months in total. 4 players have led the world rankings since 2001.
All 10 reigns with dates
- KasparovJan 2001 → Apr 20065y 6m
- TopalovJul 2006 → Oct 20066m
- KasparovJan 2007 → Oct 20071y
- AnandJan 2008 → Jul 20089m
- TopalovOct 2008 → Nov 20091y 3m
- CarlsenJan 2010 → Sep 201010m
- AnandNov 2010 → Nov 20102m
- CarlsenJan 2011 → Jan 20112m
- AnandMar 2011 → May 20114m
- CarlsenJul 2011 → Oct 202615y 4m
Hou Yifan has been No. 1 since Sep 2015. Judit Polgar holds the record for most time at the top: 14 years and 3 months in total. 2 players have led the women's world rankings since 2001.
All 4 reigns with dates
- PolgarJan 2001 → Feb 201514y 2m
- HouMar 2015 → Jul 20155m
- PolgarAug 2015 → Aug 20151m
- HouSep 2015 → Oct 202611y 2m
Federations
The United States hold No. 1 among federations by the average of their 10 best active players (2722.8), ahead of India (2703.6). Uzbekistan, the Olympiad host, climbs from No. 6 to No. 5 (+8.4) and France from No. 7 to No. 6, while Germany slips from No. 5 to No. 8.
Top 10 federations · average of top 10 active · October 2026
| # | Federation | Avg Top 10 | Δ 1m | Players | GMs | IMs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1· | 2,722.8 | -2.5 | 5,207 | 73 | 86 | |
2· | 2,703.6 | -1.7 | 19,882 | 75 | 107 | |
3· | 🇨🇳China | 2,662.9 | -1.3 | 1,747 | 39 | 34 |
4· | 2,640.6 | 0 | 6,849 | 76 | 97 | |
5▲1 | 🇺🇿Uzbekistan | 2,636.8 | +8.4 | 961 | 15 | 9 |
6▲1 | 2,630 | +2.9 | 17,578 | 51 | 108 | |
7▲1 | 🇦🇿Azerbaijan | 2,629.7 | +2.7 | 1,195 | 18 | 23 |
8▼3 | 2,629.5 | +0.4 | 14,131 | 75 | 180 | |
9· | 2,625.5 | +1.6 | 1,497 | 52 | 63 | |
10· | FIDE | 2,609.8 | 0 | 725 | 33 | 37 |
Events that shaped the October 2026 list
Away from Samarkand, the strongest round-robin was the Skalica Masters (average opponent rating 2604). The strongest individual open was the Sestao Open, with a top 10 average of 2549, won by Patryk Cieslak on tie-break.
| Tournament | Dates | Place | Avg Rc | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yakubboev–Tabatabaei match· Match | TASHKENT | 2711 | — | |
| Madaminov–Suleymanli match· Match | Tashkent | 2638 | — | |
| Skalica Masters· Round-robin | Skalica | 2604 | — | |
| MyInvestor International GM round-robin· Round-robin | Zaragoza | 2444 | Loic Travadon | |
| Spanish Primera División· Round-robin | Linares (Jaen) | 2430 | — | |
| Gudrat Ismayilov Memorial (GM group)· Round-robin | Guba | 2420 | Shiroghlan Talibov | |
| Saint Charbel Chess Cup· Round-robin | Morshyn, Lviv region | 2415 | Maksym Dubnevych | |
| Mülheim GM-norm tournament· Round-robin | Muelheim an der Ruhr | 2403 | Moritz Valentin Collin |
| Tournament | Dates | Place | Top 10 Elo | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chess Olympiad (open)· Team | Samarkand | 2764 | — | |
| Dutch Meesterklasse· Team | various | 2557 | — | |
| Sestao Open· Swiss | Sestao (Vizcaya) | 2549 | Patryk Cieslak | |
| Southern California Open· Swiss | Glendale, CA | 2535 | — | |
| Sants Open· Swiss | Barcelona | 2532 | Jules Moussard | |
| Bosnian Premier League· Team | Bihac | 2530 | — | |
| Berjaya Global Chess Open (Masters)· Swiss | Johor Bahru | 2522 | Boris Savchenko | |
| Polish Team Championship (First League)· Swiss | Chotowa | 2506 | — |
Top games of the month
The standout games of the month. Replay them move by move.
Starting position
Masters0 games
| Masters 2400+ · OTB only | You | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move | Games | Results | Games | Score | ≈ Elo |
Written by
Louis
Founder & product
Chasing 2300. Started Chess Second to train smarter and get there.
Methodology
Computed from the official FIDE standard rating list of October 2026, compared with the previous monthly list and the monthly archive since 2001. Active players only (no inactivity flag on the list). Federation = the federation shown on each list, not today's. Age = list year minus birth year. Tournament results come from rated event files (classical only); events not yet published by FIDE may be missing. Every figure in this report is generated from the data and checked automatically against it.