October Top 25 Women's Rankings: Who is the best?

The 2025 chess season is close to wrapping up, and finally the long overdue October Top 25 rankings are here. With just one new big tournament since the August edition, the rankings haven’t changed so much. With the Candidates just around the corner in April (in Cyprus!) though, it’s a different set of rankings that are in the spotlight: the FIDE Circuit standings, which determine the very last spot in the Candidates. But before we even get to the Candidates, now more than ever it’s worth asking: Who is the best in the world right now?

If you’re new or you haven’t seen my previous sets of rankings, these are the Top 25 women’s chess players based on both results and performance across all OTB formats in the past two years, with emphasis on classical and the most recent 12 months. (Check out here for the full methodology.)

New Rankings (October 2025)

This set of rankings is through the end of September. The main change from the last edition is the addition of the Grand Swiss. The Olympiad and the first Women’s Grand Prix leg from last year also no longer count towards the most recent 12 months. The European Team Championship and Club Cup won’t count until the next set of rankings.

Here are the new rankings!

The October 2025 Top 25. Credit: @OnTheQueenside.

Kateryna Lagno climbed back up the rankings to No. 12 thanks to her Grand Swiss runner-up, her best result of the year by far. Not to be overshadowed by her compatriots is China's 20-year-old IM Song Yuxin at No. 16. She followed up her excellent World Cup quarter-final with an even better finish in the Grand Swiss, tying for 3rd place with GMs Bibisara Assaubayeva and Tan Zhongyi. I hope to see her in the next edition of the Women’s Grand Prix, and she even has a reasonable chance of making the Candidates before that.

IM Song Yuxin was one of just 3 players to finish top 8 in both the World Cup and the Grand Swiss, along with Vaishali and Tan Zhongyi. Credit: Michal Walusza.

But the biggest change is Hou Yifan being active enough to warrant inclusion in the rankings. She reached double-digit classical games for the first time in eight years, highlighted by a near-perfect run in the Chinese League, and should finish the year with around 30 FIDE-rated classical games after this week’s Women’s World Team Championship.

Final Candidates spot

Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno claimed two of the final three Candidates spots to make it back to the Candidates, leaving only one spot left. That last spot goes to the winner of the Women’s FIDE Circuit, which is down to three main contenders: GMs Bibisara Assaubayeva (99.4), Anna Muzychuk (80), and Lei Tingjie (62). Only two events in the circuit remain: the World Rapid & Blitz Championships at the end of the year.

Current Women’s FIDE Circuit standings. Credit: Wikipedia.

It’s worth noting that if the Women’s FIDE Circuit followed a similar format to the open FIDE Circuit, it would already be all but over. Anna Muzychuk has won three tournaments this year (two Grand Prix legs and Norway Chess). She would be leading the women’s circuit by about as much as Pragg is running away with the open circuit. Unfortunately for Anna though, the format is different. She doesn’t get any points for those tournament wins, just 80 for 3rd place in the overall Grand Prix series and nothing for Norway Chess. It’s Bibisara, with no tournament wins this cycle, who has the lead.

Who is the favourite for the last Candidates spot? It has to be Bibisara. She excels at speed chess. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if she medalled to clinch the spot. Anna has also been World Champion in both rapid & blitz, but she hasn’t medalled since 2019 and her best recent finish since then was 9th. Only the top 8 get circuit points. For Lei Tingjie, she would probably have to at least medal in the World Rapid. I think she’s capable of it. She did tie for first in 2023. But overall, the safe bet is Bibisara.

Who is the best right now?

Hou Yifan being more active this year renews the question: Who is the best in the world right now? Four players can make a good case. As you might expect, they are all from China.

The main arguments for each are:

• Ju Wenjun is No. 1 in my rankings and World Champion no less.
• Zhu Jiner is No. 1 in TPR this year.
• Hou Yifan is No. 1 in FIDE rating in all three formats.
• Lei Tingjie is No. 1 in TPR over the long haul.

Let’s dig deeper.

The case for Ju Wenjun: The World Champion is the best in the world, period. Even if you think other things matter, the case for Ju Wenjun is still pretty good. She is like Magnus in that she dominates all formats. She is the World Blitz Champion and World Rapid Championship runner-up. Even online, she won the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship over Hou Yifan. Beyond women’s chess, we all know she has made her mark with four recent wins against 2700s in classical, and held her own in Wijk aan Zee against the very best in the world.
The case against Ju Wenjun: Ju Wenjun isn’t FIDE No. 1, and recently she was passed by Zhu Jiner and Lei Tingjie in FIDE rating as well. She dominated the World Championship match this year against Tan Zhongyi, but Tan hasn’t had the best year in general. Other than that, Ju Wenjun hasn’t had any big triumphs over the board this year, at least in part because she hasn’t played so much lately.

In case you forgot, Ju Wenjun is still World Champion. Credit: Anna Shtourman.

The case for Zhu Jiner: Performance is the ground truth. If you look at performance rating over the past year, Zhu Jiner is No. 1 and by a decent margin over Lei Tingjie and Ju Wenjun. She has excelled against all rating bands. Against 2500s, she won the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series with shared first in every leg. Against under-2500s, she absolutely destroyed the Turkish League and last year’s Club Cup. Against 2600s, she finished 5th in Fujairah with a performance over 2700. She has been the most active, and has still shown the highest level.
The case against Zhu Jiner: Zhu Jiner may have shared first in every Grand Prix leg, but she didn’t actually win even one of those legs. To be the best, you have to become a champion at some point and in individual tournaments, she still hasn’t done that. She also hasn’t played any classical events against the other three, so it’s still not clear how she would fare against them.

The performance rankings over the past 12 months. Credit: @OnTheQueenside.

The case for Hou Yifan: FIDE rating never lies. Everyone knows Hou Yifan’s peak was way higher than everyone else still active. Even today, she’s still No. 1 in classical FIDE rating by a wide margin. She has crushed under-2500s with 10½/11 on the women’s boards in the Chinese League. She won the Quenza blitz tournament with a dominant 8/9 in a field with several 2600 GMs. She also proved herself against the top women by winning the Chinese National Games rapid event in a field with the other three.
The case against Hou Yifan: Hou Yifan may still be facing high-level competition in rapid and blitz, but not so much in classical. She hasn’t beaten anyone rated over 2500 in classical in eight years. Looking at her classical performance overall this decade, it’s not close to being the best. Even though she’s been more active this year, she’s still less active than the other top players.

The case for Lei Tingjie: Long-term performance is the best indicator of ability. If you look at performance rating over the past five to six years or so, Lei Tingjie is No. 1 by a decent margin over Goryachkina and Ju Wenjun with a 2586 performance in the 2020s. She’s been elite this whole decade. Her performances to win the Grand Swiss and the Candidates were arguably the most dominant tournament performances we’ve seen in women’s chess in recent memory. Even in a down year this year, she’s still No. 2 in performance at 2584.
The case against Lei Tingjie: Lei Tingjie had her chance to cement her place at the top by winning the World Championship and didn’t come through. Since then, she hasn’t managed to win anything else either. Even if she was the best at some point, she can’t be the best now. The fact that she dropped out of the Grand Swiss and looks unlikely to make the next Candidates doesn’t help either.

The performance rankings for the entire decade thus far. Credit: @OnTheQueenside.

So who is the best? If there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that it’s not so clear at all. That hasn’t happened so often in the history of women’s chess with players like Judit, Vera, Nona, Maia, and Yifan dominating far above the rest. Ju Wenjun can only keep improving her case the more times she defends her title. Zhu Jiner can make her mark by getting to 2600 or beyond. For Hou Yifan and Lei Tingjie, they might just need to play and the proof is in the pudding.

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The World Rapid and Blitz Championships at the end of the year will determine not just two World Champions, but one Candidate. Then, we’ll have everything we need to jump into 2026.

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