Gukesh became the youngest player to win the prestigious Candidates Tournament after holding Hikaru Nakamura to a draw to finish on top with 9 points out of a maximum 14.
D Gukesh became an overnight star and a well-known name across the country after becoming the youngest winner in the history of the Candidates Chess Tournament on Sunday.
Gukesh held world number 3 Hikaru Nakamura to a draw, but had to wait until the other high-profile showdown between world number 2 Fabiano Caruana and two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi ended in a draw for he officially obtains the right to challenge today’s world. champion Ding Liren.
Read also | Who is D Gukesh, Indian chess sensation and youngest candidate champion
The 17-year-old broke Garry Kasparov’s record for being the youngest winner of the Candidates, the Russian chess icon having achieved the feat at the age of 22 in 1984. Gukesh also became only the second Indian to win this prestigious event after the legendary Viswanathan Anand. , who had won the event in 2014. The boy from Chennai had also ended Anand’s 37-year reign as India’s top chess player last year.
The victory helped propel Gukesh to a level of stardom rarely achieved by non-cricket athletes in India. The teenager received widespread praise on social media from pundits and fans, with Anand “personally very proud” of the way he performed throughout the tournament.
Read also | Gukesh ‘happy and relieved’ after becoming youngest world title challenger
Gukesh also got a sense of the star he would have become after his victory as he was mobbed by fans chanting his name as he left the Great Hall, the Toronto venue that hosted the 2018 Candidates Tournament. This year.
Watch:
🇮🇳 Gukesh leaves the room after winning the 2024 edition #FIDECandidates! 🔥 🤩 pic.twitter.com/REZMIfOO9q
– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 22, 2024
Here is a video of the welcome Gukesh received there before his first interview as candidate champion:
🇮🇳 Gukesh leaves the room after winning the 2024 edition #FIDECandidates! 🔥 🤩 pic.twitter.com/REZMIfOO9q
– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 22, 2024
Gukesh also made world number 1 Magnus Carlsen swallow his own words, with the Norwegian GM earlier saying he didn’t see the Indian winning the tournament and felt he was “not quite ready yet to take the plunge” as champion.
“Gukesh is probably a little stronger than me and others thought. The problem with Gukesh is that he can seem very vulnerable at times. Then he’s not very good at rapid chess either. It can confuse (people’s assessment of him). And he’s not as well known as some of the other kids, which is confusing. But he proved in this tournament that he is very strong,” Carlsen said during a Chess24 stream after Gukesh’s victory.
