With five points in his kitty from eight games, D Gukesh jointly leads the standings with Anish Giri of Holland.
Anand, who first made it to the World's top-10 in July 1991, has remained India's top-ranked player in all published lists since January 1987.
16-year old Praggnanandhaa halted his three-match losing streak to shock the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi
Liem Le scored an emphatic 2.5-0.5 win over the teenaged Indian GM, securing victories in games two and three after the opener ended in a draw.
Shami was there to receive the honours. He took 24 wickets in seven World Cup games last year.
Grandmaster D Gukesh endured a heartbreak in the final tie-breaker against Wei Yi of China and had to be content with a joint second place finish at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
The 16-year-old top seed was in fine form and remained unbeaten through the nine rounds. He finished the tournament with a victory over fellow-Indian V Praneeth, an International Master, late on Friday.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh has replaced the legendary Viswanathan Anand as India's top chess player after more than three decades.
Indian GM was impressive against a fancied and higher rated opponent
Praggnanandhaa said just talking to the Indian chess wizard (Anand) boosts his confidence.
The conclusive champion of this tournament is set to be determined on Thursday.
R Praggnanandhaa was far from realising the enormity of his achievement in the FIDE World Cup but reckoned his incredible run could force people to "start noticing" Indian chess.
Humpy excited about young Indian chess brigade, says 'can be worthy successor to Anand'
A record number of 634 sportspersons were on Friday cleared by the Sports Ministry to compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games, surpassing the 572 athletes in the last edition of continental showpiece in Jakarta in 2018.
Teen chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa's mother, R Nagalakshmi said on Friday she was elated to see her son seal a berth in the Candidates Tournament, adding the 18-year-old has a "long way to go" in the sport.
Praggnanandhaa is on his own at the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as his personal coach RB Ramesh is away in another country.
Although he noted that the game of chess has changed in recent times, he was willing to offer advice to the new generation.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi drew with Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth round to be in joint third place with 5.5 points in the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
The 44th edition of the prestigious event will witness a record 188 teams in the Open section and 162 in the women's side.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa advanced to the Chess World Cup final after outclassing Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals in Baku.
Apart from a place in the Candidates to be played in April next year in Canada, Vaishali got richer by US$25000 (Over Rs 20 Lakhs) while Vidit took home a whopping prize purse of US$80000 (Over Rs 66 Lakhs).
Vidit Gujrathi suffers first defeat
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, who stunned Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament, was delighted, yet modest in his moment of triumph, saying he just wanted to enjoy playing against the world No. 1.
Praggnanandhaa went down 1.5-2.5 to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Erigasi lost to Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda 0.5-2.5.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
The Indian men's and women's chess teams won silver medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 2.5-0.5 in the seventh and final round to finish fifth in the Meltwater Champions Tour Finals in San Francisco on Monday.
Gujrathi settled for a draw against Russia's Andrey Esipenko to stay in the lead with three points
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
In the Open section, the India 'B' team, which has been in sparkling form, had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan as the in-form D Gukesh lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the reigning world rapid chess champion.
Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Sanjay Kapoor said the federation is also working on organising an Indian Chess League.
For a long time, Viswanathan Anand was the lone flag-bearer of Indian chess, taking the world by storm with his exploits.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went down to World No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE Chess World Cup final, in Baku, on Thursday.
The 17-year-old Praggnanandhaa, who started very well on day one with three wins, could only manage four draws on the third day.
Indian players experienced mixed fortunes in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament here with two each in the men's and women's sections registering victories.
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
Praggnanandhaa, who has reached the summit clash featuring legendary five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, had none other than the iconic Gary Kasparov, acknowledging the Indian GM's mother's role
Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset as he outclassed former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win, in Gibraltar. The 14-year old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.
Following is India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sunday, October 1.
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