American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana took the lead in the 2024 FIDE Circuit after winning the Saint Louis Masters.
He scored 16.39 points and overtook Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi.
Arjun competed hard in the Qatar Masters Open 2024 tournament but finished second, meaning he was unable to catch up with Caruana. With both players having completed seven tournaments counting towards the final FIDE Circuit 2024 standings, Caruana has a six-point advantage over his main rival.
It will all come down to the final track competition, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, where Arjun must improve his score and Caruana can secure the top spot by maintaining the status quo.
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The track is one of the paths to qualify for the FIDE 2026 Candidates Tournament. A place among the FIDE 2024 Candidates will be awarded to one player who achieves the highest results in qualifying tournaments in 2024.
Each player must compete in at least five qualifying tournaments, including at least four regular timed tournaments.
The final score is calculated as the sum of a player’s maximum seven highest scores.
FIDE TRACK LEADERS TABLE
| Degree | Name | Rate | Country |
| 1. | Fabiano Caruana | 130.42 | USA |
| 2. | Arjun Erigaisi | 124.40 | India |
| 3. | Nodirbek Abdusattarov | 108.49 | Uzbekistan |
| 4. | Alireza Firouzja | 88.16 | France |
| 5. | D.Gukesh | 84.13 | India |
| 6. | R. Praggnanandhaa | 66.76 | India |
| 7. | Nodirbek Yakuboev | 57.40 | Uzbekistan |
| 8. | Amina Tabatabaei | 56.39 | Iran |
| 9. | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 55.56 | Uzbekistan |
| 10. | Daniel Gruszka | 51.73 | Belgium |
