Revision as of 06:17, 19 August 2023

2019

World’s second youngest GM

Prasad RS, Gukesh becomes world’s second youngest GM, January 15, 2019: The Times of India

D Gukesh
From: 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.