American hikaru nakamura

World Classical World Champion Gukesh: Arjun Erigaisi maintained his rating of 2801 and retained the fourth spot while newly-crowned World Classical World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju occupied the fifth position in the classical Open section in the first ranking list of 2025 released by International Chess Federation (FIDE) on Wednesday.

Erigaisi, the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to cross the exalted 2800 rating in classical chess, has a rating of 2801 and is just one ELO behind American Hikaru Nakamura (2802). Another American Fabiano Caruana (2803) is a further one ELO ahead at No. 2 position in a hot chase for the second spot behind Magnus Carlsen, who leads the chart with a rating of 2831.

Gukesh, who defeated China's Ding Liren -- ranked 22nd with a rating of 2728 -- to win the World Championship title in Singapore a couple of weeks back, completes the top five with a rating of 2783.