D Gukesh wins candidates chess tournament, becomes youngest challenger for world title – Firstpost

D Gukesh created history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament in Toronto on Sunday. The 17-year-old Indian grandmaster becomes the youngest contender for the world title, breaking a record set by Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.

With the tournament heading into the final round and three vying to advance to the world title match, Gukesh played a draw with Hikaru Nakamura to finish with nine points out of a possible 14.

The triumph qualifies D Gukesh to face reigning world champion Ding Liren of China later in the year.

17-year-old Indian prodigy 🇮🇳 Gukesh D makes history as the youngest player to win the #FIDECandidates! 🔥

📷 Michal Walusza pic.twitter.com/xyAoRceiTE

– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 22, 2024

The Chennai-based teenager far surpassed Kasparov’s record as the Russian legend was 22 when he qualified for the 1984 world title match with compatriot Anatoly Karpov.

“So relieved and so happy. I was following this crazy match (between Fabio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi), then I went for a walk with my second (Gregorz Gazevsky), I think it helped me,” Gukesh said after his victory.

The chess contestants’ victory comes with a huge cash prize of 88,500 euros (approximately Rs 78.5 lakh). The total prize money of the candidates was 5,00,000 Euros.

Gukesh is only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament. Five-time world champion Anand triumphed in 2014.

Congratulation to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger. THE @WacaChess the family is so proud of what you have done. I am personally very proud of the way you played and handled difficult situations. Enjoy the moment

– Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) April 22, 2024

“Congratulations to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger. The @WacaChess family is so proud of what you have done. I am personally very proud of the way you played and handled difficult situations. Enjoy the moment,” Anand posted on “X”.

Needing at least a draw to stay in title contention, Gukesh gave up nothing against Nakamura, a clear signal that the teenager is ready for the big stage.

The black pieces didn’t matter much since Nakamura was at sea in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and found no way to continue playing to gain an advantage.

Gukesh won a pawn and Nakamura had to find his way to a tie in the next rook and the opposite-colored bishops’ endgame. The game lasted until move 71 but the result was never in doubt.

While Gukesh’s match ended in a draw, taking it to nine points, all eyes were on the match between Caruana and Nepomniachtchi.

The American Caruana dominated Nepomniachtchi from the opening and took advantage of an almost winning position for several shots.

However, it was the clock that spoke here as Caruana made an error on move 39 to allow a playable position.

But things were far from over, Caruana rebuilt his position and was about to win a second time when again his clock deceived him and he failed to find the right follow-up.

The resulting position was a draw endgame with queen and pawns where Caruana continued to press to no avail.

If one of these two players had won, the tournament would have required a tie-break since Gukesh and the winner would have found themselves in the joint lead.

Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura all finished with 8.5 points for shared second place while India’s R Praggnanandhaa finished fifth with seven points beating Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov.

Vidit Gujrathi played a quick draw with Frenchman Firouzja Alireza in the final round to finish in sixth place with six points in total.

Alireza finished seventh with five points while Abasov finished last with 3.5 points total.

Gukesh has been making waves for a while now after becoming the third youngest in chess history to win the Grandmaster title at the age of 12.

Last year, he won a silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Final round results:

Hikaru Nakamura (8.5) drew with D Gukesh (9); Fabiano Caruana (8.5) tied with Ian Nepomniachtchi (8.5); Nijat Abasov (3.5) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (7); Firouza Alireza (5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (6).