Nodirbek better than Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun 'makes no sense', says German No 1 Vincent Keymer

German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer expressed surprise over Uzbekistani GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov surging ahead of the Indian trio of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi to the fourth spot on the latest Fide ratings.

Keymer, who is the top-ranked German and seventh overall on the global Classical ratings, also included himself in the statement, adding that he was "not clearly better" than the Indians – who had been in the top-10 until recently but have gone through a freefall in recent weeks.

'A lot depends on current form'

Arjun remains the top-ranked India but is now 11th on the list, behind the legendary Viswanathan Anand, who currently is a semi-retired player. Praggnanandhaa, the lone Indian in the 'Open' section of the Fide Candidates last month, is 16th while reigning world champion Gukesh, who was ranked third in March last year, is 18th.

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"It makes no sense to claim that Abdusattorov is now much better than Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh or Erigaisi. Three months ago Abdusattorov had 2730, and they had almost 2800 — everything changes very fast!" Keymer was quoted by RookReview as telling German chess magazine SchachMagazin64.

"This also applies to me. I’m not clearly better than those players who are 20-30 points behind me right now. I would say this is a new young generation that works hard, and all of them are very talented. A lot depends on current form," he added.

Poor form is the reason why the number of Indians in the Classical top-10 has gone from three to zero in the span of a year, with Gukesh – who will be defending his world title against Javokhir Sindarov later this year – having endured poor form for nearly a year now.

Also Read | Gukesh's loss of form decoded by Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 'I don’t think he has any...'

Arjun, however, has been in sparkling form in the shorter formats and thus finds himself ranked fourth and seventh respectively in the world in Rapid and Blitz respectively. He had also won a bronze medal in both formats at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships that had taken place in Abu Dhabi in December.