Friday, December 13, 2024

A01845 - Dommaraju Gukesh, Youngest World Chess Champion in History

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Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh in 2024
CountryIndia
Born29 May 2006 (age 18)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
TitleGrandmaster (2019)
World Champion2024–present
Years active2015–present
FIDE rating2783 (December 2024)
Peak rating2794 (October 2024)
RankingNo. 5 (December 2024)
Peak rankingNo. 5 (October 2024)
Medal record
Representing  India
Men's chess 
World Championship
First place2024 SingaporeMen's individual
Olympiad
Gold medal – first place2022 ChennaiOpen individual board 1
Gold medal – first place2024 BudapestOpen team
Gold medal – first place2024 BudapestOpen individual board 1
Bronze medal – third place2022 ChennaiOpen team
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place2022 HangzhouMen's team
World Youth Championship
Gold medal – first place2020 OnlineBoys' individual
Gold medal – first place2018 Santiago de CompostelaBoys' individual
Asian Youth Championship
Gold medal – first place2018 ThailandIndividual rapid
Gold medal – first place2018 ThailandIndividual blitz
Gold medal – first place2018 ThailandTeam rapid
Gold medal – first place2018 ThailandTeam blitz
Gold medal – first place2018 ThailandIndividual classical

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Gukesh Dommaraju (born 29 May 2006), also known as Gukesh D, is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion in the history of the game.[1] A chess prodigy, Gukesh is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing so at the age of 17, and was the third-youngest to have surpassed 2700 at the age of 16. He earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 and remains the third-youngest grandmaster in the history of chess.[2]

He won a team gold and an individual gold medal at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024, as well as a team bronze and an individual gold medal at the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022. At the age of 18, he became the youngest Candidates Tournament winner and, subsequently, the World Chess Champion by defeating Ding Liren 7½ to 6½ at the World Chess Championship 2024.[3] At the junior level, he is a multiple-gold medalist at the World Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Chess Championship. Gukesh is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games.[4]

Early life

Birth and background

Gukesh was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family from Andhra Pradesh.[5][6][7] His mother, Padma, is a microbiologist while his father, Rajinikanth, is an ENT surgeon.[8] He learned to play chess at the age of seven.[9] He studied at the Velammal Vidyalaya School, in Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai.[10]

Gukesh's family hails from the village of Chenchuraju Kandriga, near Satyavedu in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh.[5][6][7] His grandfather Shankar Raju was born and raised in Chenchuraju Kandriga and worked in the Indian Railways. His son Rajinikanth, later settled in Chennai to pursue a medical career and married Padmavathi there.[6][5] The family owns properties in Chenchuraju Kandriga, where Shankar Raju is currently settled.[5][11]

Chess beginnings

Gukesh embarked on his chess journey in 2013, starting with structured one-hour sessions held three times a week. From 2017 to 2018, his mother became the sole breadwinner after his father quit his job to travel with Gukesh for various tournaments. Inasmuch as the family faced financial struggles, Gukesh was sponsored by his parents' friends during the time.[12] His extraordinary talent having been being recognized institutionally early on, he has been the beneficiary of the robust Indian chess ecosystem, perhaps the best in the world, from his schooldays onwards.[13]

Career

Youth Championships and rise in chess (2015–2019)

Gukesh won the Under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015[14] and the World Youth Chess Championships in 2018 in the Under 12 category.[15] He also won five gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championships in the U-12 individual rapid and blitz, U-12 team rapid and blitz and U-12 individual classical formats.[16] He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.[17]

On 15 January 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in history,[18] only surpassed by Sergey Karjakin by 17 days.[19] The record has since been beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra, making Gukesh the third-youngest.[20][21]

In June 2021, he won the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, Gelfand Challenge, scoring 14 out of 19 points.[22]

Olympiad individual gold (2022)

In August 2022, he played the 44th Chess Olympiad and initially had a perfect score of 8/8, notably defeating US No. 1 Fabiano Caruana in the eighth match.[23] He finished with a score of 9 out of 11, earning the gold medal on the 1st board and his team India-2 finished third in the tournament.

In September 2022, Gukesh reached a rating of over 2700 for the first time, with a rating of 2726.[24] This made him the third-youngest player to pass 2700, after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja.[25] In October 2022 during the Aimchess Rapid tournament, Gukesh became the youngest player to beat Magnus Carlsen since the latter became World Champion.[26]

Candidates qualification (2023)

In the August 2023 rating list, Gukesh became the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2750.[27] Gukesh participated in the Chess World Cup 2023. He defeated Misratdin Iskandarov, S. L. Narayanan, Andrey Esipenko, and Wang Hao to qualify for the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.[28]

In the September 2023 rating list, Gukesh officially surpassed Viswanathan Anand as the top-ranked Indian player, marking the first time in 37 years that Anand was not the top-ranked Indian player.[29][30] In December 2023, with the end of the FIDE Circuit, Gukesh qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.[31] Gukesh had placed second in the Circuit, but Fabiano Caruana, the winner, had already qualified through the World Cup.[32] He became the third youngest player to qualify for a Candidates tournament, behind Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen.[33][34]

Olympiad individual and team gold (2024)

Gukesh (left) playing Alireza Firouzja at the 2024 Candidates Tournament
Known for his serious demeanor, Gukesh D. typically wears a tilaka as a token of his Hindu faith.

In January 2024, Gukesh participated in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024. He scored 8.5/13 to finish in a 4-way tie for first place. In the twelfth round, he had a winning position against R Praggnanandhaa but blundered into a threefold repetition. In tiebreaks, he defeated Anish Giri in the semifinals but lost to Wei Yi in the finals.[35]

In April 2024, Gukesh participated in the 2024 Candidates Tournament (the WACA livery on his blazer standing for WestBridge-Anand Chess Academy).[36][13][37] Gukesh won games against R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi playing as black, Alireza Firouzja playing as white, and Nijat Abasov playing as both black and white.[38] His only loss was his game with black against Firouzja. This gave him five wins, one loss and eight draws, for a score of 9/14, winning the tournament and qualifying for the 2024 World Championship match against Ding Liren.[39] He is the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates.[40][41][42][43]

In September 2024, Gukesh took part in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest as part of the Indian team. He showcased a dominant performance on board one, scoring an unbeaten 9 points in the 10 games he played. In the tournament, he defeated grandmasters Vignir Vatnar Stefansson, Ádám Kozák, Alexandr Predke, Aydin Suleymanli, Wei Yi, Parham Maghsoodloo, Fabiano Caruana, and Vladimir Fedoseev. He had a performance rating of 3056, which was the highest among all players in the tournament. His performance earned him an individual gold medal on board one, and helped India to their first ever team gold medal at the Olympiad.[44]

Gukesh entered the FIDE world top-five for the first time on 1 October 2024.[45][46]

Youngest world champion (2024–present)

Gukesh became the 18th World Chess Champion on 12 December 2024 after defeating Ding Liren in the last game and winning the World Chess Championship by 7.5–6.5.[47] The win made him the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion,[48] a notable feat for which he received accolades within and without the chess world; Tamil and Telegu camps and politicians claimed him as their own.[49][50] (Ruslan Ponomariov won the FIDE title at a younger age, but at the time the title was split.) FIDE characterized most of the gameplay as having "near-perfect accuracy", and Ding said at the press conference that it was his best tournament of the year, and that he had no regrets.[51]

Chess style

Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen regards Gukesh's style of play as "...pure counter... I can't say that his style fascinates me like Praggnanandhaa or Erigaisi. But at the same time, Gukesh almost never makes mistakes, which makes him an extremely dangerous opponent under any circumstances..."[52] He has borne comparison with the young Anatoly Karpov,[53] and has been characterized as having an aggressive tactical style, resilience, quick calculation skills, and the ability to benefit from sharp, complicated positions.[49] With a notable ability to calculate under time pressure, his games more often than not evolve into complex tactical battles.[54]

World Chess Championship 2024
RatingMatch gamesPoints
1234567891011121314
 Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)27830½1½½½½½½½10½17½
 Ding Liren (CHN)27281½0½½½½½½½01½06½

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryResultRef(s)
2023Asian Chess FederationPlayer of the YearWon[55]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Youngest Chess Grandmasters In History". Chess.com. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  2. ^ Staff, Al Jazeera. "How India's Gukesh Dommaraju became chess king in a cricket crazy country". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  3. ^ The Hindu Bureau (12 December 2024). "World Chess Championship 2024, Gukesh vs Ding Game 14 LIVE: Gukesh becomes World Chess Champion". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Candidates Chess: Gukesh becomes youngest winner, to challenge for world title". The Economic Times. 22 April 2024. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Kanukula, Sumanth (13 December 2024). "Celebrations in AP with Gukesh's victory.. His grandfather's hometown is somewhere in Andhra Pradesh". Times Now News. Retrieved 13 December 2024. Gukesh was born on May 29, 2006, in a Telugu family settled in Chennai. Gukesh's ancestors belonged to the joint Chittoor district.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b c "మనోడే.. చదరంగ విశ్వవిజేత". Eenadu (in Telugu). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b "Dommaraju Gukesh : కొడుకు కోసం డాక్టర్ వృత్తినే వదులుకున్నాడు..కట్ చేస్తే 18 ఏళ్లకే ప్రపంచాన్ని జయించాడు". News18 (in Telugu). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  8. ^ Prasad RS (16 January 2019). "My achievement hasn't yet sunk in: Gukesh". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  9. ^ Lokpria Vasudevan (17 January 2019). "D Gukesh: Grit and determination personify India's youngest Grandmaster". India Today. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Velammal students win gold at World Cadet Chess championship 2018". Chennai Plus. 9 December 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  11. ^ "జగజ్జేత మన గుకేశ్‌ | Dommaraju Gukesh becomes world chess champion". Sakshi (in Telugu). 13 December 2004. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Gukesh stopped regular school at class IV, no sponsor, father quit job, mother had to…: Story of youngest world champ". Hindustan Times. 13 December 2024.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b "Gukesh Dommaraju: How the Indian teenager became youngest world chess champion". www.bbc.com.
  14. ^ Shubham Kumthekar; Priyadarshan Banjan (2018). "Gukesh D: The story behind a budding talent". IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Chess Tournament. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. ^ "Chess: India Gukesh, Savitha Shri bag gold medals in U-12 World Cadets Championship". scroll.in. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  16. ^ Prasad RS (13 March 2018). "Gukesh wins 5 gold medals in Asian Youth Chess Championship". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  17. ^ Prasad RS (13 March 2018). "Gukesh making all the right moves". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  18. ^ Shah, Sagar (15 January 2019). "Gukesh becomes second youngest GM in history". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  19. ^ Shah, Sagar (9 December 2018). "Gukesh with 2 GM norms and 2490 Elo is on the verge of becoming world's youngest GM". ChessBase India. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  20. ^ Hartmann, John (30 June 2021). "GM Abhimanyu Mishra is the Youngest GM in History!". US Chess.org. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  21. ^ Barden, Leonard (26 April 2024). "Chess: Gukesh, 17, shocks favourites to become youngest challenger for title". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  22. ^ Rao, Rakesh (14 June 2021). "Gritty Gukesh wins Gelfand Challenge". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  23. ^ "Gukesh makes it 8/8 and dumps Caruana out of Top 10". 2 May 2023. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  24. ^ Gukesh D, Rating Progress Chart, FIDE
  25. ^ "Biel: Gukesh becomes third-youngest player to cross the 2700 mark". en.chessbase.com. 17 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Gukesh D vs. Carlsen, Magnus". chess24.com. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  27. ^ Gukesh Breaks Record: Youngest Player To Cross 2750 Rating, chess.com, 21 July 2023.
  28. ^ "2023 Chess WC Q/Fs: Pragg takes Erigaisi to tie-breaks; Gukesh, Vidit out". ESPN.com. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  29. ^ Menon, Anirudh (1 September 2023). "37 years – How the world changed as Anand stayed constant on top of Indian chess". ESPN.
  30. ^ Watson, Leon (1 September 2023). "Gukesh Ends Anand's 37-Year Reign As India's Official Number 1". Chess.com.
  31. ^ "Gukesh confirms his Candidates spot". Hindustan Times. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  32. ^ "FIDE World Championship Cycle". International Chess Federation (FIDE). Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  33. ^ Gukesh confirms his Candidates spot, Hindustan Times, 31 December 2023
  34. ^ Who will win the 2024 Candidates Tournament?, Chessbase, 24 March 2024
  35. ^ Carlos Alberto Colodro (29 January 2024). "Wei Yi brilliantly wins Tata Steel Masters in blitz playoff". ChessBase. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  36. ^ "Who are world chess champion D Gukesh's jacket sponsors and which brand does he endorse?". The Week.
  37. ^ "WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) - WestBridge Capital • Westbridge Capital". westbridgecap.com.
  38. ^ Gukesh Youngest Ever Candidates Winner, Tan Takes Women's By 1.5 Points, chess.com, 18 April 2024
  39. ^ Dylan Loeb McClain. "The Next Winner of the World Chess Championship Could Be the Youngest Ever". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  40. ^ Leonard Barden (26 April 2024). "Chess: Gukesh, 17, shocks favourites to become youngest challenger for title". The Guardian.
  41. ^ Sunaadh Sagar (22 April 2024). "D Gukesh, aged 17, wins FIDE Candidates 2024; will play Ding Liren for World Champion title". ESPN. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  42. ^ "Indian teenager Gukesh to challenge China's Ding for world chess title". Al Jazeera English. 22 April 2024.
  43. ^ "Grandmaster left red-faced: Brutal blunder as new chess king Gukesh crowned at just 18". Fox Sports. 12 December 2024.
  44. ^ "India wins historic double team gold at FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024". Al Jazeera English. 23 September 2024.
  45. ^ "October 2024 FIDE Ratings: Gukesh Joins Arjun In World Top-5". chess.com. October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  46. ^ "Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh in top 5 rankings after historic Chess Olympiad; Ding Liren out of top 20". Indian Express. October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  47. ^ The Hindu Bureau (8 December 2024). "World Chess championship 2024 Game 11 LIVE updates: Gukesh wins after Ding blunder, takes lead for first time". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  48. ^ McGourty, Colin (12 December 2024). "18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion". Chess.com. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  49. ^ Jump up to:a b "Tamil Or Telugu? MK Stalin, Chandrababu Naidu Lead Battle Over Chess Champ Gukesh's Heritage". NDTV.com.
  50. ^ Staff, Al Jazeera. "How India's Gukesh Dommaraju became chess king in a cricket crazy country". Al Jazeera.
  51. ^ "FIDE World Championship Game 14: Gukesh D crowned 18th World Champion". www.fide.com.
  52. ^ "Gukesh D - 2700chess.com". www.2700chess.com.
  53. ^ "From Boy to Man to Challenger: The Fiercest Battles of Gukesh D". The House of Staunton.
  54. ^ "GM Gukesh Dommaraju: A Rising Star in International Chess". US Chess Academy.
  55. ^ "Gukesh won the "Player of the Year" and "Best Young Achievers Male" awards". indianexpress.com.

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Dommaraju Gukesh, 18, Becomes Youngest World Chess Champion

It had been an unexpectedly close contest in Singapore with Ding Liren. When he won, the normally stoic Gukesh clasped his hands at the board and burst into tears.

Listen to this article · 5:53 min Learn more
A young man stands with his arms raised in the air in celebration. In front of him is a chess board, and behind him are observers.
Dommaraju Gukesh, an 18-year-old Indian grandmaster, celebrated winning the world chess championship in Singapore.Credit...How Hwee Young/EPA, via Shutterstock

By Dylan Loeb McClain

Dommaraju Gukesh, an 18-year-old Indian grandmaster, captured the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Thursday by winning the last game of his match against the reigning champion, Ding Liren of China. In so doing, Gukesh became the 18th and youngest undisputed world champion in history.

The match was decided by a terrible blunder by Ding in what was a defensible position. The error allowed Gukesh to force an ending in which he could have promoted a pawn to a queen and easily checkmated Ding’s king.

After the game ended, with Ding offering his hand in resignation, the normally stoic Gukesh clasped his hands at the board and then burst into tears, clearly overwhelmed by the moment and his accomplishment. Ding walked away disconsolately, shaking his head.

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For the victory, Gukesh earned the majority of the $2.5 million prize fund.

Before the last game, the best-of-14-games match was tied, an unexpectedly close contest given that Ding had been in terrible form since he won the title last year. His ranking had fallen to No. 23 in the world, and he had not won a game in competition since January. Most experts picked Gukesh, No. 5, as the favorite, despite his youth and relative inexperience.

Image
A man holds his hand to his forehead as he looks intensely at a chess board at the World Chess Championship. He is across from another man also staring down at the board.
Ding Liren reacted to his play against Dommaraju Gukesh during their 14th game.Credit...How Hwee Young/EPA, via Shutterstock

Indeed, those factors weighed heavily against him in Game 1. Ding, despite having black, which moves second, played magnificently, seizing control of the game and winning to take the lead.

Gukesh settled down quickly, however, and he began to demonstrate that he was not only in better playing form than Ding, but also better prepared. He outplayed Ding in the early phases of the games, building up advantages that seemed to be almost decisive, only for Ding to find defensive resources and wriggle away.

After a draw in Game 2, Gukesh won Game 3 when he managed to trap one of Ding’s pieces out of the opening to achieve a material advantage.

The next seven games were drawn, but they were not dull. In Games 7 to 10, Gukesh seemed to have his opponent on the ropes, but Ding escaped each time.

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Finally, in Game 11, Ding’s luck ran out. In a difficult position, he blundered a piece and promptly resigned. But just when it seemed that Gukesh was firmly in control, Ding won Game 12, playing one of his best games in years, reminiscent of those he played at his peak in 2018 and 2019, when he was one of the most feared players in the world.

Game 13 was a heartbreaker for Gukesh. He again outplayed Ding, but, with victory in his grasp, he missed a coup de grâce on move 31, and Ding was able to hold a draw.

Game 14 seemed as if it, too, would end in a draw. At the cost of losing a pawn, Ding forced an endgame in which he seemed to be in no particular danger.

His strategy appeared to be to deadlock the regulation portion of the match and then try to win the match in tiebreaker games on Friday. Those games would have been faster, which would have favored Ding, at least based on his rankings, which were higher than Gukesh in those time controls.

But after nearly five hours of play, Ding cracked, making a simple mistake that allowed Gukesh to win the game and the title.

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He moved his rook to a square where it could be exchanged for Gukesh’s rook, after which Gukesh was able to force the exchange of bishops. That left only pawns on the board, and Ding could no longer defend his position.

In the news conference afterward, Ding was stunned. “I was totally in shock when I realized that I made a blunder,” he said.

When Gukesh realized Ding’s error, he said, “tt was probably the best moment of my life.”

Gukesh’s chess life has come full circle. In 2013, he was 7 years old when he sat in the audience and watched the World Chess Championship match in Chennai, India, between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. Anand, who was then the world champion, is the only other Indian to have held the title. Carlsen won that match and began a reign that stretched to last year, when he declined to defend the crown, opening the door for Ding.

Gukesh recalled on Thursday at the news conference that when he watched the 2013 match, which was played inside a soundproof booth, “I thought that it would be really cool to be inside the glass box.” But, he admitted, he did not really understand the magnitude of it all. “I thought like a little kid thought: It would be cool if I had this toy.”

In 2021, Gukesh was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to watch Carlsen beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in his last title defense. At that time, he said, he dreamed of being world champion, but “to be honest, I did not think that it would be this soon.”

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After his victory, congratulations poured in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India said of Gukesh on social media, “His triumph has not only etched his name in the annals of chess history but has also inspired millions of young minds to dream big and pursue excellence.”

Not everyone was impressed by the match. Carlsen criticized some of the games, particularly Gukesh’s performance in Game 1, saying that it was “hard to understate how bad this was from Gukesh.” “Not a single good decision,” he added. “Everything was wrong.”

Gukesh said he did not mind the criticism. “It kind of fires me up,” he said. He added that while he was now world champion, he still did not consider himself the best player in the world because Carlsen remained ranked No. 1. Gukesh said that he hoped that one day he could be as dominant as Carlsen had been.

Gukesh plans to celebrate with family and friends, but his first order of business is something different. After Game 9, he took a walk along a beach with his longtime coach, Vishnu Prasanna, another Indian grandmaster, and they saw people doing bungee jumps. He and Vishnu made a pact at the time that if Gukesh won, they would do the same thing.

Gukesh admitted he was afraid of heights, but he said on Thursday, “I’m looking forward to jumping off a bridge.”

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