Valsecchi wins in Naples and joins Italy's top 10; Italy 29th at the Olympiad
By Louis · October 1, 2026 · 4 min readLorenzo Lodici remains Italy's No. 1 at 2568 after a Chess Olympiad where Italy finished 29th in the open and 50th in the women's section. Edoardo Di Benedetto scored 7.5/9 in Samarkand and gains 12 points to a career-high 2485 (FIDE lists since 2001). Alessio Valsecchi won the Tesoro di San Gennaro festival in Naples with 5/5 and climbs from No. 15 to No. 10 in Italy. Marina Brunello, Italy's top-rated woman, scored 7/10 on the women's team: she gains 15 points to 2323 and climbs from No. 147 to No. 123 in the women's world rankings. Ilia Martinovici slips from No. 6 to No. 8 in the Italian top 10 at 2488 after a -13 month, -13.2 at the Tuscany Move Open (A) with 3/5.
Italy top 10
| # | Player | World | Elo | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GMLorenzo Lodici | 234 | 2568 | -5 |
| 2 |  GMDaniele Vocaturo | 248 | 2561 | 0 |
| 3 | GMLuca Moroni | 292 | 2552 | -4 |
| 4 | GMFrancesco Sonis | 315 | 2547 | +8 |
| 5 |  GMSabino Brunello | 444 | 2520 | -16 |
| 6 | GMPier Luigi Basso | 580 | 2500 | 0 |
| 7 |  IMSebastian Dario Iermito | 641 | 2491 | 0 |
| 8 | IMIlia Martinovici | 663 | 2488 | -13 |
| 9 | IMEdoardo Di Benedetto | 686 | 2485 | +12 |
| 10 | GMAlessio Valsecchi | 861 | 2465 | +13 |
Top 20 — who moved
Italy women's top 10
Greta Viti (16) climbs from No. 12 to No. 4 in the Italian women's top 10 at 2181 after a +112 month, +70.0 at the Palermo chess festival (group A) with 5/7. Ria Arun (12) climbs from No. 8 to No. 6 in the Italian women's top 10 at 2115 after a +28 month, +28.0 at the Italian U12 Girls' Championship with 8/8.
| # | Player | World | Elo | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  IMMarina Brunello | 123 | 2323 | +15 |
| 2 |  IMOlga Zimina | 185 | 2284 | -21 |
| 3 |  IMElena Sedina | 294 | 2230 | +3 |
| 4 | WFMGreta Viti | 430 | 2181 | +112 |
| 5 | WIMTea Gueci | 550 | 2145 | +11 |
| 6 | WCMRia Arun | 691 | 2115 | +28 |
| 7 | Valeria Martinelli | 784 | 2098 | +19 |
| 8 | WIMCamelia-Adriana Ciobanu | 810 | 2094 | 0 |
| 9 | WGMAleksandra Dimitrijevic | 916 | 2076 | 0 |
| 10 | Maria Andolfatto | 921 | 2075 | 0 |
Full Italy women's ranking →
Beyond the top 10
The biggest gain among Italian players rated 2200+ belongs to Niccolò Casadio, 20, with +28 to 2262, +28.2 at the Ad Gredine festival in Ortisei (Open A) with 4/5. Massimiliano Botta crosses 2300 for the first time on FIDE lists since 2001, now at 2306.
New titles
The October list brings 1 new FIDE master and 2 new candidate masters.
Juniors — under 20
Neven Hercegovac remains the top-rated Italian player under 20 at 2341 (-6 this month). Clio Alessi (13) climbs from No. 19 to No. 10 in the Italian U20 girls' top 10 at 1910 after a +76 month, +40.4 at the Città di Palermo festival (Camarda Memorial, group B) with 5/7. Maddalena Corvi (15) climbs from No. 11 to No. 5 in the Italian U20 girls' top 10 at 1974 after a +97 month, +57.2 at the Italian U16 Girls' Championship with 6.5/8. 6 active Italian players aged 20 or under are rated 2300+, against 7 of the same age a year ago.
Full Italy U20 ranking →
Daniele Vocaturo has held Italy's No. 1 the longest
Lorenzo Lodici has been No. 1 since Nov 2025. Daniele Vocaturo holds the record for most time at the top: 9 years and 7 months in total. 7 players have led Italy since 2001.
All 14 reigns with dates
- BelliniJan 2001 → Jan 20013m
- GodenaApr 2001 → Apr 20013m
- BelliniJul 2001 → Jul 20021y 3m
- GodenaOct 2002 → Jul 20053y
- BelliniOct 2005 → Oct 20053m
- GodenaJan 2006 → Apr 20071y 6m
- CaruanaJul 2007 → Jun 20158y
- DavidJul 2015 → Oct 20154m
- VocaturoNov 2015 → Dec 20152m
- DavidJan 2016 → Apr 20164m
- VocaturoMay 2016 → Mar 20258y 11m
- SonisApr 2025 → Apr 20251m
- VocaturoMay 2025 → Oct 20256m
- LodiciNov 2025 → Oct 20261y
Marina Brunello has been No. 1 since May 2022. Olga Zimina holds the record for most time at the top: 10 years and 9 months in total. 4 players have led Italy's women since 2001.
All 20 reigns with dates
- DamascoJan 2001 → Apr 20016m
- SedinaJul 2001 → Oct 20054y 6m
- ZiminaJan 2006 → Oct 20083y
- SedinaJan 2009 → Sep 20101y 10m
- ZiminaNov 2010 → Mar 20116m
- SedinaMay 2011 → May 20112m
- ZiminaJul 2011 → Jul 20112m
- SedinaSep 2011 → Mar 20131y 7m
- ZiminaApr 2013 → Dec 20152y 9m
- BrunelloJan 2016 → Jan 20161m
- ZiminaFeb 2016 → Apr 20193y 3m
- BrunelloMay 2019 → Sep 20195m
- ZiminaOct 2019 → Dec 20193m
- BrunelloJan 2020 → Jan 20201m
- ZiminaFeb 2020 → Sep 20208m
- BrunelloOct 2020 → Nov 20211y 2m
- ZiminaDec 2021 → Dec 20211m
- BrunelloJan 2022 → Mar 20223m
- ZiminaApr 2022 → Apr 20221m
- BrunelloMay 2022 → Oct 20264y 6m
Where Italy played
Italy slips from No. 31 to No. 32 among federations by the average of its 10 best active players (2517.7, -2.0 since September). The event with the most Italian players rated 2300+ was the Chess Olympiad (open) (5 Italian players, 5 of them rated 2300+). 235 Italian players received their first FIDE standard rating on the October list.
| Event | ITA players |
|---|---|
| Chess Olympiad (open) · Samarkand | 5 |
| Trieste chess festival (group A) · Trieste | 27 |
| European Senior Team Championships (50+) · Hersonnisos Crete | 9 |
| Swiss Team Championship · decentralised | 11 |
| Tuscany Move Open (A) · Quarrata | 15 |
| Tesoro di San Gennaro festival in Naples (Open A) · Napoli | 42 |
| European Senior Team Championships (65+) · Hersonnisos Crete | 5 |
| Chess Olympiad (women) · Samarkand | 5 |
Written by
Louis
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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.