D. Gukesh
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A backgrounder
Till 2023, Aug
Shrivathsan S, August 27, 2023: The Times of India
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh, the prodigy who has taken the chess world by storm and surpassed the legendary Viswanathan Anand as India’s No. 1 in the live FIDE rankings, experienced them all in the last 12 months, en route to scripting history. He followed it up with a creditable quarterfinal finish in the recently-concluded World Cup in Baku where R Praggnanandhaa won the silver. Gukesh, though, looks all set to join Prag in the elite eight-player Candidates event next April, the winner of which will take on the current world champion Ding Liren.
Gukesh has been a force in recent times, but he shot to limelight at the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram last year. The teenage sensation clinched the individual gold with an unbelievable 9 out of 11 points in a field which comprised the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, among others. Representing the India 2 team that had bagged bronze, the 17-year-old had an unstoppable streak – eight wins on the bounce.
After becoming India’s poster boy at a tournament where he had delivered a number of breathtaking performances, Gukesh went through a rough patch, by his lofty standards, in the months that followed. “All of us go through a phase where we do not know what we are doing. It was the same for him,” Gukesh’s coach, GM Vishnu Prasanna, told TOI. Down mentally and constantly searching for the moment that would spark a turnaround, the Chennai lad, for a while, was not his usual self while pitting his wits against the crème de la crème of world chess. He kept trying but his efforts did not bear fruit until the middle of the Tata Steel Chess 2023 in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands in January.
Winless after seven rounds at the tournament, Gukesh broke the duck in Round 8 with a victory over Iranian GM Parham Magh soodloo. And, there was no stopping him after that morale-boosting triumph. “He needed that luck to change his perspective. After that game, he went from having a bad mindset to a good mindset,” said Prasanna.
“We were just doing the usual things. We worked on his game and tried to fix it. He did not want to overthink and was only focused on playing. The win helped him to have a psychological shift.” After staying unbeaten for the remainder of the Tata Steel event and finishing 12th with five-and-a-half points, Gukesh went from strength to strength. He defeated his idolturned-rival, World No.1 Carlsen, in over-the-board chess for the first time in the second round of the Norway Chess Blitz tournament in Stavanger in May. In July, Gukesh became the youngest player to cross the Elo 2750 threshold, thanks to his sheer dominance at the Turkish Super League. At the start of this month, Gukesh achieved a monumental feat as he went past Anand to become India No.1 in the live chess rankings, courtesy of his second-round win over Misratdin Iskandarov at the just-concluded World Cup at Baku in Azerbaijan. To put things into perspective, Anand, who mentors Gukesh and other young Indian talent at the West Bridge Anand Chess Academy, had held on to the spot for almost 36 years.
“Gukesh’s rise has been incredible. I think that this climb (into the top-10) is very special (Gukesh is seventh in live rankings). Players usually pause and struggle to get through that barrier. I would say that this is the most difficult barrier. I am extremely happy that he has done very well,” said Prasanna. “Staying consistent and maintaining one’s level are huge challenges. They are difficult to achieve, but he has been doing very well.”
Noted coach RB Ramesh showered praise on Gukesh for playing with immense confidence and backing his game. “He has shown phenomenal progress to overtake Anand. I am happy that a young Indian player is performing well at the international arena. He has great confidence and I believe that it is his biggest strength. He is a hard-working boy and is learning a lot by playing games. He has full belief in his abilities and that is refreshing to see,” said Ramesh, who worked with Gukesh in the India 2 set-up at the Olympiad.
While Gukesh is already a star, he is hungry for more. “He is not overwhelmed by the expectations. He feels that he has still not achieved his ultimate goal of becoming World No. 1. He will not rest on his laurels,” said Prasanna. “We have more challenges ahead. We have to see how Gukesh handles it going forward. The next goal is to get to the Candidates Tournament. I want him to win world events; they are like Grand Slams in tennis. More than playing well, I want him to win those titles,” Prasanna said.
2013- 2024 Apr
Amit Karmarkar, April 23, 2024: The Times of India
From: Amit Karmarkar, April 23, 2024: The Times of India
GUKESH’S PROGRESS
AUG 2013: Became a rated player aged 7.
MAR 2018: Became International Master.
JAN 2019: Became second youngest GM ever at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days.
MAR 2022: Finished runnerup to Erigaisi Arjun at National C’ship.
JUL-AUG 2022: Scored 8/8 and 9/11 as ‘India 2’ team won the Olympiad bronze.
SEPT 2021 TO AUG 2022: Attained the most difficult jump from Elo 2600 to Elo 2700 in quick time.
OCT 2022: Beat Carlsen for the first time in a rapid game.
AUG 2023: Reached quarterfinals of World Cup.
DEC 2023: Sealed Candidates berth via Fide circuit.
APR 2024: Won Candidates title to be World Championship challenger.
HUNTING AS TROIKA Though Gukesh, Pragg and Vidit played as individuals, having a pack of Indians helped Gukesh. Vidit won two games against Nakamura and Pragg denied a win to Nepo. Both Nakamura and Nepo dropping these crucial points indirectly boosted Gukesh.
2019
World’s second youngest GM
Prasad RS, Gukesh becomes world’s second youngest GM, January 15, 2019: The Times of India
D Gukesh, at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, became India’s youngest ever Grandmaster when he achieved his third and final GM norm at the ongoing Delhi international chess tournament. The young gun has been in the news as one of the contenders to beat GM Sergey Karjakin’s record of being the youngest Grandmaster ever. Gukesh missed out on that feat but he is happy to have crossed the milestone at his own pace.
“When I got the news, I was quite happy. I missed out on becoming the youngest GM when I couldn’t get the required norm at the Sunway Sitges international in Barcelona last month. I was disappointed, but took it in my stride,” Gukesh told TOI.
With this stupendous achievement, Gukesh has overtaken city mate R Praggnanandhaa who became a GM at 12 years, 10 months and 13 days. The last few weeks tested Gukesh mentally, but he reminded himself of how Magnus Carlsen – the current World No. 1 – too wasn’t the holder of the youngest GM tag. “If he could become a world-beater despite not having the youngest-ever GM tag, so can I,” said Gukesh, who has 7 points from 9 rounds in the Delhi event with one more round to go.
Hailing from a family with strong academic background – his father Rajinikanth is an ENT surgeon and mother Padma a microbiologist – one would have expected Gukesh to be more inclined towards studies. But the youngster chose chess as his passion.
Meanwhile, on a day when India got its youngest ever GM, his citymate NR Visakh too achieved the GM tag. Visakh too got his third and final GM norm at the Delhi meet on Tuesday.
Youngest ever GMs: Sergey Karjakin: 12 years, 7 months, 0 days; D Gukesh: 12 years, 7 months, 17 days; Javokhir Sindarov: 12 years, 10 months, 5 days; R Praggnanandhaa:12 years,10 months, 13 days and Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 13 years, 1 month, 11 days.
2023
India’s number one
Amit Karmarkar, August 4, 2023: The Times of India
There is no stopping India’s prancing knight D Gukesh breaking new ground and adding new feathers to his cap. The 17-year-old GM from Chennai has made it to the world’s top-10 in live rating list (Elo 2755. 9 now) and has also overtaken stalwart Vishy Anand’s Elo strength (currently 2754) for the first time to become India No. 1.
Gukesh completed his win over home boy Misratdin Iskandarov in the second game of the two-game mini match to enter the third round of World Cup chess at Baku, Azerbaijan, the birthplace of erstwhile Soviet great Garry Kasparov.
This is not the first time that any Indian has overtaken Anand’s live rating as an elite player. P Harikrishna had overtaken Anand’s live rating in 2016 (2763. 3) but could not sustain it.
2024
Candidates tournament
Amit Sampat, April 23, 2024: The Times of India
Gukesh Dommaraju marked his arrival on the world stage with a bang, conquering three ‘elite kings’—top seed Fabiano Caruana, World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi—and making history by being the youngest player to win Candidates tournament.
In the 14-round 8-player match-up, which concluded in Toronto on Sunday, Gukesh at 17 years, 10 months and 24 days smashed a 40-year-old record held by Garry Kasparov as the youngest player to earn the right of a challenger when he takes on China’s world champion Ding Liren later this year for chess championship title.
Gukesh also ended a decade-long wait for an Indian in a world title match: In 2014, fivetime world champion Viswanathan Anand lost to Magnus Carlsen second time in a row. Gukesh, then 7, had watched that title match played in Chennai, his home town.
Gukesh defended well with black in the final round
The Candidates was a battle of exuberance and experience where youthful energy prevailed. With a fearless approach, Gukesh finished on top of the table collecting nine points as he forced second seed Hikaru Nakamura to split the point. All the three top players— Nepomniachtchi, Caruana and Nakamura—finished in the joint second position with 8.5 points. Neither Caruana nor Nepo could manage to win on demand and had to reluctantly settle for a draw on Sunday. On his memorable triumph, Gukesh said, “It’s always an honour representing my country. To achieve something big for myself and my country is very special to me. Right now I am relieved and happy.”
He added, “The main thing is that I had the right mindset throughout the event. From start to end, I was in good spirits, fully motivated. I really wanted to win the event. All these things came together. It was helpful that I was sharp chess-wise and managed to play some good games, but I was very strong mentally.” Anand was the first to praise Gukesh. In his post on X Anand wrote, “I am personally very proud of how you played and handled tough situations. Enjoy the moment.” In the 14th and final round where a draw was enough for him to decide the championship in tie-break, Gukesh defended well with black pieces and after surprising Nakamura with some novelty moves in the opening, he slowly achieved equal position in the mid-game.
In a must-win situation, Nakamura brought in some tricky weapons, but Gukesh relied on deep preparation to force the second seed to settle for a draw in 71 moves.
World’s top-rated player, Magnus Carlsen, who came live on Chess24, was all praise for Gukesh and his deep preparation. After criticizing Gukesh’s 10th move which caught Carlsen off guard, he immediately praised the Indian’s next move. On the 10th move (Cxd4), Carlsen said, “Gukesh just made a move that I absolutely hate. This is exactly what Nakamura was hoping for.” On the 11th turn, when Gukesh played b4, Carlsen said, “I love what Gukesh has done. I didn’t even think about b4. This is something I haven’t seen before.”
