Sergey Karjakin’s return to the FIDE top 10 rankings sparked a controversy after the Russian grandmaster was added and then removed from the March list. This also pushed reigning World Champion Gukesh out of the top 10 for a brief period.
The world of chess is witnessing an unexpected controversy involving Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin. The latest FIDE rankings for March have turned into a major debate after Karjakin was added and then removed from the updated list, creating confusion across the chess community.
When FIDE released its latest classical ratings list, many fans were surprised to see Karjakin’s name suddenly back in the top 10. The more shocking thing was that he was listed at world No. 10 with a rating of 2750, pushing India’s reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju down to No. 11.
Why Karjakin’s return to top 10 caused a stir?
Karjakin remains one of the most controversial figures in modern chess. He was born in Ukraine, but later switched his federation to Russia in 2009. He even challenged Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship title in 2016 and pushed him to a tense tie-break.
However, Karjakin’s career took a dramatic turn in 2022. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Karjakin publicly supported the war. In March 2022, FIDE banned him for six months because of his political statements supporting the invasion. Many top tournaments stopped inviting him after that.
Karjakin also refused to play FIDE-rated games when Russian players were not allowed to compete under their national flag. As a result, he became “inactive” in the rankings because he did not play enough official games over the past few years. In February 2025, he was even placed on the European Union sanctions list.
That is why his sudden return to the top 10 has caused such a shock among chess aficionados. Reports suggested that Karjakin had played two private rated games against a junior player to regain his “active” status. Those games appeared in the FIDE database, making him eligible to be ranked again.
Karjakin himself posted about his return on social media. But his comeback did not last long. Within hours, the two games that had made him active disappeared from FIDE’s database. His name was also removed from the top 10 list after that. Gukesh has since returned to No. 10 once again.
Surprise!😉 pic.twitter.com/vrI8tzA38S
— Sergey Karjakin 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺 (@SergeyKaryakin) February 28, 2026
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