FIDE Circuit 2025: Praggnanandhaa seizes the lead
April brought a significant change to the FIDE Circuit 2025 leaderboard. As many expected, Praggnanandhaa overtook Ding Liren to claim the top spot, following his solid performance at the GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, where he finished third and gained 8.44 circuit points. The event’s winner, Vladimir Fedoseev, collected 13.26 points and jumped straight to third place. Photo: Open Chess Menorca Meanwhile, legendary Vasyl Ivanchuk pushed Aravindh Chithambaram down to fifth after winning the Menorca Open, which earned him 12.67 points and fourth place on the leaderboard. Menorca runner-up Lu Shanglei climbed to eighth place in the standings, while Parham Maghsoodloo rounds out the top ten after his triumph at the Reykjavik Open, translating into 11.16 circuit points. Photo: Reykjavik Open Just outside the top ten are Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Ian Nepomniachtchi, each having played only one tournament that counts toward the FIDE Circuit 2025 so far. We maintain a dedicated page on our website for the FIDE Circuit 2025, featuring the latest information on eligible tournaments, current standings, and regulations. Visit: FIDE Circuit 2025
The moment of truth: Women’s Grand Prix heads to Austria for the decisive stage
As the 2024/2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series draws to a close, three players remain in contention for the overall title. The final, sixth leg begins in Austria on May 6 In August 2024, the first stage of the six-leg FIDE Women’s Grand Prix (WGP) series began in Tbilisi, Georgia. There was perhaps no more fitting place to launch a top-level women’s chess event than in the country that has long dominated the sport. For decades, Georgian chess players—whether competing under the Soviet flag or their own—have stood among the world’s best, revered as national heroes at home. Since the breakthrough of Nona Gaprindashvili—one of the greatest women players of all time—in the 1970s, women’s chess has steadily progressed. The creation of the Grand Prix in 2009 marked a major shift—an organized series offering consistent opportunity. In recent years, FIDE has moved closer toward a structured approach in promoting women in the sport. What was once an exception is now a system, and the biggest expression of that is the Grand Prix series where the best and most talented women players are asserting their presence. With six international stops across the globe, boasting €600,000 in prizes and offering a path to the Women’s Candidates for the top two qualifiers, the Grand Prix is a serious contest but also a quiet revolution – giving a spotlight to the women’s role in the game. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich reflected on the progress: “Supporting women’s chess has gone from securing survival and a right to exist in the male dominated world, to making it into a strategy which is improving over time. The Women’s Grand Prix is one of the focal points of FIDE’s work and I’m pleased that in the forthcoming sixth and final leg of the event, we will mark another important milestone for women’s chess by concluding another successful series.” What’s at stake in Austria and who will be playing The sixth and final stage of the 2024/2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix will take place in Grosslobming, Austria. It is here where the champion of the series will be decided, but also – who will be the top two players qualifying for the Women’s Candidates in 2026. Photo: Niki Riga So far, Aleksandra Goryachkina is in the lead with 308.34 points. While her chances to qualify for the 2026 Candidates are very big, the crown in the WGP series and the Candidates spot are not a done deal for her. As Goryachkina will not be playing in this final stage, two other players have a chance to overtake her (if they win top places): China’s Zhu Jiner and Anna Muzychuk from Ukraine. Photo; Mark Livshitz Zhu has the best chance to overtake Goryachkina for first place. With 235 points, the Chinese player is currently 73.34 points behind. This means she would need to finish among the top three to secure the 2024/2025 WGP title. The challenge is significantly tougher for Anna Muzychuk, who trails Goryachkina by 119.17 points. To win the WGP, she must finish in sole first place in Austria and earn 130 points. Mathematically, this is possible – but it takes more than math to clinch a victory in an event like this! Photo: Anna Shtourman With the field including three former World Champions – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tan Zhongyi and Mariya Muzychuk – this will be a tough tournament to do well in, let alone take sole first place. Ten players are taking part in the tournament in Austria, with the list as follows: Player Total WGP Points (Pre-Austria) Zhu Jiner 235 Anna Muzychuk 189.17 Tan Zhongyi 170 Nana Dzagnidze 121.67 Mariya Muzychuk 121.67 Rameshbabu Vaishali 85 Alexandra Kosteniuk 85 Nurgyul Salimova 70 Olga Badelka 25 Lela Javakhishvili 20 The road to Austria: Key results from the previous five stages of the WGP The road to Austria was anything but easy. In the five events that proceeded, the players faced a tough field split between the strongest and most experienced women players in the world on one side, and the up-and-coming rising stars on the other. Each player is eligible to compete in three of the six events. With some players withdrawing or unable to attend, Wildcards were given to participants in some events. In the first leg, in Tbilisi (August 2024), Alina Kashlinskaya (playing for Poland) won the tournament with six points. She came into the tournament as one of the two replacements, after Lagno and Khademalsharieh withdrew. With half a point ahead of the runner-up Bibisara Assaubayeva, Kashlinskaya – accompanied by her baby son at the event, still a rare sight at elite tournaments – took 130 points and was the first one to take the lead in the 2024/2025 WGP Series. The second leg was staged in Shymkent in Kazakhstan in October 2024. Former World Champion contender Aleksandra Goryachkina staged a spectacular performance: she completely dominated the event and secured victory with a round to spare. Tan Zhongyi (who was at that point preparing for the Women’s World Championship Match in 2025), finished in second place, half a point behind. Goryachkina then also won the third event in the series – staged in Monaco in February. Although not as dominant as in Kazakhstan, she emerged on top of a three-way tie for first place, with Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Koneru Humpy. This propelled Goryachkina to the sole lead in the WGP. In the fourth tournament, in Cyprus in March, Anna Muzychuk tied for first place with Zhu Jiner, with both ending on 6/9. The two finished a full point ahead of Goryachkina, who had another great performance. While Goryachkina secured a towering lead – with 308.34 points, Zhu and Muzychuk now joined the race for the top. Finally, this April in the fifth leg held in Pune (India), it was the native Koneru Humpy who emerged at the top, edging out Zhu on tiebreaks after both finished with seven points. This pushed Koneru to the second place in the WGP overall standings, with 279.17 points,
FIDE May 2025 rating list published
The May 2025 FIDE rating list was primarily influenced by the Women’s World Championship match, the fifth leg of the Women’s Grand Prix in Pune, India, the European Women’s Championship, and several strong open tournaments across Europe. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun successfully defended her title and gained 19 rating points in the process, consolidating her position as world number two on the women’s list. Photo: Anna Shtourman Humpy Koneru (+15) and Zhu Jiner (+16) climbed to women’s #5 and #6, respectively, following their dominant performances in the Pune leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix. Meanwhile, the top 10 of the open list remained virtually unchanged. Biggest Gains in the Top 100 (Open and Women) Hrebenshchykova, Yelyzaveta WIM UKR 2353 (+57) Ivanchuk, Vasyl GM UKR 2644 (+40) Lu, Shanglei GM CHN 2647 (+29) Zhurova, Anna WFM FIDE 2350 (+27) Song, Yuxin IM CHN 2397 (+26) Maghsoodloo, Parham GM IRI 2706 (+22) Tang, Zoey FM USA 2347 (+22) Lu, Miaoyi IM CHN 2450 (+21) Narva, Mai IM EST 2391 (+20) Ju, Wenjun GM CHN 2580 (+19) Injac, Teodora IM SRB 2474 (+19) WIM Yelyzaveta Hrebenshchykova (Ukraine; pictured below) was the standout performer in April, thanks to her excellent showing at the Grenke Chess Open. She gained 57 rating points and made her debut in the top 100 Women. Photo: Mitar Djukanovic Her compatriot, the legendary Vasyl Ivanchuk, experienced a resurgence in April, earning 40 rating points after winning or sharing first place in three consecutive tournaments: the Reykjavik Open 2025, the IX Open Semana Santa San Vicente del Raspeig Costa Blanca, and the IV Open Chess Menorca. The Ukrainian GM made a triumphant return to the top 100 Open. Photo: Reykjavik Open Lu Shanglei also performed strongly across those three open tournaments, adding 29 points to his tally. Parham Maghsoodloo, winner of the Reykjavik Open, earned 11 points there and added another 11 in the Bundesliga, returning to the 2700+ club after a five-month hiatus. Two young Chinese players, Song Yuxin and Lu Miaoyi, had highly successful tours of European open tournaments. Song Yuxin impressed in both Iceland and Menorca, collecting 26 points, while the 15-year-old Miaoyi participated in three open events and one team competition, gaining 21 points and reaching a career-high ranking of 23rd on the women’s list. Photo: Mark Livshitz Teodora Injac, the 2025 European Women’s Champion (pictured above), made her debut in the top 20 Women, achieving a career-high rating of 2474. Podium finishers Mai Narva and Alexandra Matsevskaya also made significant rating gains, earning 20 and 15 points respectively.