Gukesh not only became the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament, he also broke the iconic Garry Kasparov’s record of being the youngest contestant champion in 40 years.
D Gukesh made history in Toronto on Sunday after holding world number 3 Hikaru Nakamura to a draw to become the youngest champion in the history of the prestigious Candidates chess tournament. The 17-year-old thus won the right to challenge China’s Ding Liren for the title of “world chess champion” later this year.
Gukesh finished with nine points from a total of 14 on Sunday, but it was only when Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew in the other closely watched competition that the Indian teenager was confirmed as Liren’s opponent at the Championship of the chess world. which will take place later in 2024.
Read | How much money did D Gukesh earn from winning the contestants?
Gukesh not only became the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament, but he also broke the iconic Garry Kasparov’s record of the youngest contestant champion which had stood for 40 years. Kasparov achieved this feat at the age of 22, defeating fellow Russian grandmaster Anatoly Karpov in 1984.
So who is Gukesh, India’s latest chess sensation? Here’s everything you need to know about him:
Who is D Gukesh?
Dommaraju Gukesh was born on May 29, 2006, in Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu – which has a long history of producing chess stars, from Anand to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa stars, although Gukesh’s family hails from Andhra Pradesh .
Gukesh, whose father is a doctor and mother a microbiologist, learned to play chess at the age of seven and from then on, there was no looking back.
Gukesh was making waves even before his age reached double digits, winning the Asian School Chess Championships at the age of nine. Three years later, he would win the World Youth Chess Championships title in the U-12 category and fulfill the requirements for an International Masters degree later that year.
His rapid rise in the sport continued the following year as he nearly broke Sergey Karjakin’s record for youngest chess Grandmaster ever, achieving the status at the age of 12 , 7 months and 17 days and missing Karjakin’s feat by only 17 days.
Most recently, Gukesh had made headlines for replacing Anand as the highest-ranked Indian chess player in the rating list released in September 2023, ending the latter’s reign at the top of the list which had lasted 37 years !
The youngest chess champion
Gukesh Dommaraju 🇮🇳🫡
He said and he did this
So touching for him man
And he’s too humble too 😭😭😭#fidecandidates2024 #FIDECandidates #GukeshFTW #Gukesh pic.twitter.com/P7tupfREcB– RooP (@Roop_25ms) April 22, 2024
In an interview with chess expert Sagar Shah, Gukesh had expressed his desire to one day become the youngest world champion. The kind of form he’s in now and given his rapid rise in the sport, it could well become a reality later this year.
