Abdusattorov Ascends To World Number 4; Bodhana Cracks Into Women's Top 100

While his compatriot GM Javokhir Sindarov carves up at the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov has quietly moved into fourth position on the April FIDE classical rating list after a commanding victory at the 2026 Prague International Chess Festival super-tournament early in March.

11-year-old English FM Bodhana Sivanandan also made waves in March, gaining another 98 points and moving to a live rating of 2366, building upon her 105-point increase on the March list. Bodhana is now the 72nd ranked women's player in the world, the eighth ranked girl, and the second ranked under 11 behind IM Roman Shogdzhiev.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100: April 1, 2026

There was plenty of movement at the top of the FIDE classical rating lists in April, owing to several top-level events taking place including the Prague Masters, The American Cup, the Aeroflot Open, and German Bundesliga fixtures.

While everyone's focus has been on the outstanding performance of Sindarov in the Candidates Tournament thus far, it is important to talk about the wider boom in Uzbekistan chess. Omitting GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who has not played for Uzbekistan in a FIDE Olympiad since 2010, all of Uzbekistan's top players are trending upward. 

Abdusattorov was once again one of the big winners in the top 100 this month, growing his rating by another nine points and posting a rating of 2780.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov's run of success continues as he becomes the only player to win the Prague Masters twice! https://t.co/nE54NnfHie

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 6, 2026

Another player in the top 100 who banked significant gains was GM Pavel Eljanov, who added 23 points to his rating off the back of a 7/8 performance against 2588-average-rated opposition in the German Bundesliga and Czech Extraliga. GMs Parham Maghsoodloo, Pranav Venkatesh, Maksim Chigaev, and David Navara were the only players in the top 100 other than Eljanov who were able to gain more than 10 points in April.

The curse that seems to exist for reigning world champions also doesn't seem to have lifted—GM Gukesh Dommaraju lost 16 points for his 3.5/9 score at the Prague Masters and has slipped to 15th in the world.

Heavy losses were also incurred by GMs Daniil Dubov and Alexey Sarana, which led to both players dropping out of the top 50.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 25 Juniors | April 1, 2026

In the junior lists, the greatest success story of the month was that of IM Vaclav Finek, who is the highest-rated IM in the world by far. At the Prague Masters, Finek won the Challengers division with a 6.5/9 score and has achieved a live rating of 2571.

Finek only needs a single norm to secure the GM title and if his recent performances are anything to go by, this won't be far away.

FIDE Classical Ratings Top 100 Women | April 1, 2026

Aside from GM Zhu Jiner's slip from second to fourth, and GM Divya Deshmukh's rise to 10th position, there were no rating changes among the top-10 women's players, mostly due to players resting ahead of the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament, so we have to look further down the list to find dramatic changes.

Kazakhstan's WGM Alua Nurman gained a mammoth 65 points from two tournaments and leapt from 62nd in the world to 25th, while Bodhana debuted on the women's top-100 list after her extraordinary 98-point gain, which we will talk about below.

Prodigy Watch: Bodhana Breaks More Records

The Prodigy Watch by Chess By The Numbers founder Tai Pruce-Zimmerman tracks the progress of young chess superstars, with his "prodigy rank" a measure of how a player's current rating at their current age compares historically. You can read more about Prodigy Watch here.

Bodhana is now the number-one-rated English women's player ahead of WGM Lan Yao and has even eclipsed GM Vincent Keymer and the legendary GM Judit Polgar's ratings at the same age.

Top 15 Published Ratings At Sivanandan's Current Age

10 players having been higher rated than her at the same age gives the English youngster a prodigy rank of 11, which she shares with 15-year-old GM Andy Woodward and 10-year-old CM Aarit Kapil.

Prodigy Watch, Open: April 1, 2026

IM-elect Rose Atwell also took healthy strides towards 2400, picking up 36 points at the 2026 St. Louis Masters and 2026 Charlotte Chess Club Spring GM Norm Invitational. 

I played a GM in round 7 of my norm tournament. And I won! And I played the Petrov! You can see the position is quite complicated. Below he played Bc3. This is losing after Bxd3 Kxd3 d5, the issue for him being that I can meet Qxd5 with Qxc3+ bxc3 Rxd5+, and I end up a piece. pic.twitter.com/Q7FbBCeUIo

— Rose Atwell (@atwell_rose) March 22, 2026

Although he is already 18, the U.S.'s Risheeth Kankeyan warrants a mention. Two years ago, Kankeyan had a FIDE rating of 1479 but has shot up almost 1000 points since then. As of the April rating list, Kankeyan has a rating of 2457 and he gained a whopping 147 points last month.

All data courtesy of FIDE.