The FIDE women’s top 10 in March 2026 spans six different countries. China leads with four players in the top 10. India has three players in the top 15, more than at any point in its chess history. A player from Kazakhstan has broken into the top 10 for the first time.
The Women’s Candidates Tournament begins on March 28 in Larnaca, Cyprus. Eight of the world’s strongest women’s players are competing for the right to challenge Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Championship. That convergence makes March 2026 one of the more significant moments in the history of women’s chess.
“The number of girls and women playing chess has increased enormously in recent years. The pipeline of talent is now deeper than at any point in the history of the game.” — Arkady Dvorkovich, President, FIDE
Here are the top women chess players in the world, with context on who they are and what they have done.
Follow all top players across FIDE supertournaments on Shatranj Live.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The FIDE Women’s Top 10, March 2026
| Rank | Player | Country | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hou Yifan | China | ~2596 |
| 2 | Zhu Jiner | China | ~2578 |
| 3 | Ju Wenjun | China | ~2559 |
| 4 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | Russia/FIDE | ~2547 |
| 5 | Koneru Humpy | India | 2535 |
| 6 | Tan Zhongyi | China | ~2530 |
| 7 | Lei Tingjie | China | ~2525 |
| 8 | Anna Muzychuk | Ukraine | 2522 |
| 9 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | Kazakhstan | ~2500 |
| 10 | Kateryna Lagno | Russia/FIDE | ~2495 |
China occupies four spots in the top 7. India’s Koneru Humpy is the highest-ranked non-Chinese player. The top 10 does not yet include Vaishali Rameshbabu or Divya Deshmukh, both of whom are climbing.
1. Hou Yifan (China), World #1
Hou Yifan is 32 years old, a four-time Women’s World Chess Champion, a Rhodes Scholar, and a professor at Peking University. She is also still the highest-rated female chess player in the world.
Her rating of approximately 2596 fell below 2600 recently in the Chinese League, the first time she has been below that threshold since 2013. This is news because the threshold is significant: only five women in chess history have ever crossed 2600, and Hou Yifan maintained it for over a decade while pursuing a simultaneous academic career at world-class institutions.
She won four Women’s World Championships between 2010 and 2016, including the title at age 16, which remains the youngest-ever Women’s World Champion. Her peak rating of 2686 is the second-highest ever achieved by a woman, behind only Judit Polgar’s 2735.
She is not competing in the Women’s Candidates 2026. She has chosen to focus on academic work and selective tournament play. She is still rated above almost everyone else.
Read Hou Yifan’s full career profile.
2. Zhu Jiner (China), World #2
Zhu Jiner is 21 years old, rated approximately 2578. She is the highest-rated young women’s player in China’s pipeline and has been rising steadily through the FIDE rankings for the past two years.
Her game is aggressive and tactical, which creates high variance: her wins are emphatic and her losses are decisive. At the Prague Challengers 2026, she finished last in the 10-player field with 2.5/9, a result that reflects how tournament chess can punish sharp play in a sustained round-robin format.
She is competing in the Women’s Candidates 2026 in Larnaca. She is also confirmed for the Norway Chess 2026 Women’s section. The next several months will be the clearest picture yet of how her style holds up across different competitive formats.
3. Ju Wenjun (China), Five-Time Women’s World Champion
Ju Wenjun is 35 years old, rated approximately 2559, and the reigning Women’s World Chess Champion. She first won the title in 2018 and has defended it four times since, with the most recent defense in 2025 against Tan Zhongyi ending 6.5-2.5 in her favor.
No active player in women’s chess has a comparable title defense record. She has also won the Women’s World Rapid Championship twice and the Women’s World Blitz Championship in 2024.
The Women’s Candidates 2026 winner will challenge her for the title. Eight players are competing for that spot, including the other players on this list. Ju Wenjun is the benchmark they are all measuring themselves against.
Read Ju Wenjun’s full career profile.
4. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia/FIDE), World #4
Aleksandra Goryachkina is 26 years old, rated approximately 2547, and the player who came closest to taking the Women’s World title from Ju Wenjun. Their 2020 championship match was tied 6-6 after the classical games. Ju Wenjun won the rapid tiebreak 2.5-1.5.
That match, and that margin, established Goryachkina as the strongest challenger in the current cycle. She has continued to compete at the top level and has qualified for the Women’s Candidates 2026 in Larnaca.
Her chess is precise and difficult to attack. She has beaten Ju Wenjun in individual games. A second championship match appearance in 2026 would not be a surprise.
5. Koneru Humpy (India), World #5, Two-Time World Rapid Champion
Koneru Humpy is 38 years old, rated 2535, and the highest-ranked Indian women’s chess player in March 2026. She became India’s first female Grandmaster in 2002 at age 15 and has been India’s number one female player for most of the past two decades.
Her peak rating of 2623 made her the second female player in history to cross 2600, after Judit Polgar. She won the Women’s World Rapid Championship in 2019, came back from maternity leave to do so, and then won it again in 2024 in New York with 8.5/11.
She is competing in the Women’s Candidates 2026. She is the most experienced player in the Indian contingent and one of the most experienced in the entire field.
Read Koneru Humpy’s full career profile.
6-7. Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie (China)
China’s fourth and fifth women’s players in the top 10 are Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie, both rated in the 2520-2530 range.
Tan Zhongyi held the Women’s World Championship title briefly in 2017 before losing it to Ju Wenjun in 2018. She challenged again in 2025 and lost decisively. She is competing in the Women’s Candidates 2026 for another attempt.
Lei Tingjie challenged Ju Wenjun for the title in 2023 and lost 6.5-5.5. She is not in the Women’s Candidates 2026 field; her next opportunity will come in the 2028 cycle.
8. Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), World #8
Anna Muzychuk is 32 years old from Ukraine, rated 2522. She has been a consistent top-10 women’s player for over a decade and is a former Women’s World Blitz and Rapid Champion (2016, when she swept both titles in the same year).
She is competing in the Norway Chess 2026 Women’s section but not in the Women’s Candidates 2026. Her presence in the Norway Chess field alongside Ju Wenjun, Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, Zhu Jiner, and Assaubayeva makes that tournament one of the strongest women’s events of 2026.
9. Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), Rising to #9
Bibisara Assaubayeva is 22 years old from Kazakhstan, rated approximately 2500, and represents one of the most significant developments in women’s chess outside the traditional powers.
Kazakhstan has historically not been a major force in the women’s top 10. Assaubayeva’s rise to the top 10, which included gaining 19 points at the Tata Steel Challengers in early 2026, signals that Central Asian women’s chess is producing elite players alongside the region’s men (where Uzbekistan’s Abdusattorov and Sindarov have made the top 20).
She is competing in both the Women’s Candidates 2026 and the Norway Chess 2026 Women’s section.
India’s Rising Generation
Below the top 10, two more Indian players are climbing.
Vaishali Rameshbabu won the Women’s Grand Swiss in 2023 and 2025, the only player to defend that title. She earned the Grandmaster title in 2024. She is the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa, together making the first sibling GM pair in chess history. She is in the Women’s Candidates 2026.
Divya Deshmukh won the Women’s World Cup 2025 at age 19, the youngest winner in tournament history. She earned the Grandmaster title following the win and is India’s 88th GM. She is the youngest player in the Women’s Candidates 2026 field and is also confirmed for Norway Chess 2026.
Three Indians in the Women’s Candidates 2026. Humpy (world #5), Vaishali (Grand Swiss record), Divya (World Cup winner). No other country has three in the field.
“I never separated women’s chess from chess. I just played chess. That is what I would tell every young girl starting out: play chess, not women’s chess.” — Judit Polgar, former World #8 and the strongest female chess player in history
Follow India’s chess players on Shatranj Live.
The March 2026 Picture
Women’s chess in March 2026 is more globally distributed than at any point in recent history. China still dominates the top of the FIDE rankings, but India now has multiple players competing at title-contention level. Kazakhstan is in the top 10. Ukraine’s Muzychuk remains consistent despite the challenges of competing while her country is at war.
The Women’s Candidates in Larnaca (March 28) and Norway Chess Women’s section in Oslo (May 25) will be the two defining events of the first half of 2026. Most of the players on this list will appear in at least one of them.
Sources and Live Ratings
- [Official FIDE women’s top list](https://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml? list=women)
- Live ratings updated on Shatranj Live
