November Rating Update: Young Stars Rising Fast
By Cameron W. · Mon, 02 Nov 2026
On FIDE’s November list, U.S. Women’s Champion Rachael Li gained 50 points and 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan 31, while Carissa Yip dropped 31. Here are the biggest women’s movers of the past month.
Some rating lists tell a story of slow, steady climbs. The November list tells one of leaps. After a month of big tournaments in Saint Louis and Budva, two players, one a 16-year-old from Texas and the other an 11-year-old from London, shot up the women's rankings, while a few well-known names went the other way.
Rachael Li: from seventh seed to 31st in the world
The biggest jump belongs to Rachael Li, who gained 50 points to reach 2430 and climbed 35 places to 31st among women, according to Chess.com. It is the reward for winning the U.S. Women's Championship on her first try. Li arrived as the seventh seed of 12, finished on 8.5/11, half a point clear of Alice Lee, and picked up her first IM norm along the way. Her rating had stood at 2380 on October's list, the highest of her career at that point, so the new figure is a leap on top of an already steep climb. For comparison, the largest gain in the top 100 on October's list was 47 points, which makes Li's 50 the biggest by simple comparison.
The win also earned her a place in the next FIDE Women's World Cup, along with Lee, so the rating may be only the start of what the result brings.
Bodhana Sivanandan crosses 2400
At the other end of the age scale, 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan gained 31 points to reach 2414, which puts her 39th among women, according to Chess.com. Her points came at the European Club Cup in Budva, where she completed her third IM norm. Crossing 2400 matters because that rating is one of the requirements for the IM title, alongside the three norms. Chess.com's report calls her an IM in its text but lists her as FM in its table, so the formal status of the title is worth confirming with FIDE.
Smaller moves near the top
Among the strongest players, the changes were modest. Hou Yifan remains first on 2596, ahead of Zhu Jiner on 2559, Ju Wenjun on 2553 and Lei Tingjie on 2552. Aleksandra Goryachkina gained four points to reach 2540, and Polina Shuvalova gained five to take tenth place on 2514. Koneru Humpy added two to reach 2520, ninth.
Alice Lee's seven-point gain was small, but it matters. At 2474 she is 14th in the world and the top-rated American woman, and she is close to the 2500 needed for the grandmaster title.
Who went the other way
Not everyone had a good month. Carissa Yip lost 31 points and is now 22nd on 2453. In the Indian ranks, ChessBase India reports that Harika Dronavalli lost nine points to reach 2444, Kalyani Sirin lost 15 to reach 2386 and Vantika Agrawal lost three to reach 2399, while Divya Deshmukh was unchanged on 2488 in 12th place.
A month of contrast
It is interesting to set this against October's list, which was shaped by the Olympiad in Samarkand. FIDE's announcement of that list showed a different cast at the top of the gains table, including Mariam Mkrtchyan and Mobina Alinasab, each up 47. This month the spotlight moved to the United States and to an 11-year-old from London. Rating lists are slow-moving creatures, but they reward the players who play and win a lot, and in October that was exactly what Li and Sivanandan did.
Sources
- Chess.com, November FIDE Rating List: Nihal Enters Top 20, Sindarov Leads Gukesh By 72 Points
- ChessBase India, FIDE Rating list November 2026: Nihal Sarin Enters World Top 20
- 365Chess, Top Women Chess Players by FIDE Rating
- FIDE, FIDE October 2026 rating list published
- Chess.com, 2026 U.S. Chess Championships coverage (Round 11)
