Aravindh moves to 2nd spot in FIDE Circuit Candidates race
GM Aravindh Chithambaram (41.32) on winning his second big tournament in a row viz., Prague Masters & Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2025 moved into the second place behind fellow Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (83.59) in the FIDE Circuit standings. The Indian Grandmaster duo have been on the title hunt this year and have swept the opposition in Wijk aan Zee, Prague, Bucharest and Jermuk so far. On annexing the second Super GM tournament title this year GM Aravindh Chithambaram moved past former world champion Ding Liren (40.64) in the FIDE Circuit standings.
Praggnanandhaa has built up a sizeable lead in the FIDE Circuit standings, but has played more tournaments than Aravindh. With the second half of the year waiting to unveil a number of exciting tournaments, the race for the Candidates spot is very much on. With former world champion Ding Liren not throwing his hat into this race, it is one top GM less for the rest.
With his recent show in the Sharjah Masters Dutch GM Anish Giri has raised visions of his chances in the FIDE Circuit for the Candidates qualification. Presently he’s in the fourth spot (read three sans Ding Liren) followed by several Open hunters viz., Nihal Sarin, Daneshvar Bardiya and Indjic Aleksandar among others.
Current FIDE Circuit Standings: 1. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India) 83.59, 2. Aravindh Chithambaram (India) 41.32, 3. Ding Liren (China) 40.64, 4. Anish Giri (The Netherlands) 38.58, 5. Indjic Aleksandar (Serbia) 34.13, 6. Nihal Sarin (India) 33.48, 7. Daneshvar Bardiya (Iran) 33.39, 8. Abdusattorov Nodirbek (Uzbekistan) 32.22, 9. Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (France) 30.28, 10. Fedoseev Vladimir (Slovenia) 29.05
Picture courtesy: Vijay Rajendran @ Prague Masters 2025
Source: FIDE (International Chess Federation)
