Who is Gukesh: Gukesh is India's youngest Grandmaster and has also defeated Carlsen, just a few steps away from the world title.

Posted on 22nd Apr 2024 by rohit kumar

17-year-old D Gukesh from Chennai had participated in the prestigious Candidates Tournament as the second youngest player. However, now after playing a draw against Hikaru Nakamura in the final round of the Candidates Chess Tournament, he has become the youngest winner of this tournament. Not only this, he has also become the youngest player to compete in the World Chess Championship. He also became the youngest player in the world to win the Candidates Chess Tournament and the second Indian player to win this tournament after Vishwanathan Anand. After playing a draw against Nakamura, it was not certain that he would win the tournament. Everything hinged on another match going on between Bio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi. The winning player among these two would play a tiebreaker with Gukesh. However, luck was on Gukesh's side as Caruana and Nepomniachtchi played a draw and Gukesh came out on top with nine points and won the tournament.

 

Gukesh has shocked the world many times

The new sensation of the chess world, 17-year-old Gukesh has surprised the world many times in his career. He has made many records at this young age. He became India's youngest Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, seven months, 17 days, and missed the tag of the world's youngest Grandmaster by just 17 days. He overtook five-time world champion Vishwanathan Anand last year to become the country's top-ranked player for the first time in 36 years. Now he has added another achievement to that impressive list. By winning the Candidates Chess Tournament, Gukesh became the youngest challenger for the world title, breaking the record set by the great Garry Kasparov 40 years ago. Former Russian great Kasparov was 22 when he qualified for a clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov in 1984. Now Gukesh will challenge world champion Ding Liren of China later this year.

 

Gukesh stayed away from technical engines, prepared for such

Gukesh's identity remained hidden among the players in India who achieved stardom with little achievement till he crossed the rating of 2500 in his career. He stayed away from technical engines and minimally used computers for his preparation. This method of Gukesh was also praised by India's greatest chess player Vishwanathan Anand. He once said in an interview – Gukesh is one of the few players in the world with this kind of thinking, who was not a star despite being at the top of his game. This is a very healthy approach. The important thing was that he did not take any direct approach but took the help of his trainer. It should happen like this only. A player should focus on playing skills and the trainer can give them the best information.

 

Vishnu gave world-class recognition to Gukesh

Vishnu Prasanna, who gave world-class recognition to Gukesh, himself admits that it was a risky step. He says that we aimed to be very precise and develop our skills for chess. When you're playing games, you're not always completely sure. But if you are always checking with the computer then it gives you a clear definition of whether a move is good or bad. To keep away that confused mentality, we adopted that method. This was an experiment. We didn't know how it would work. I thought it would be a useful experiment and since it never stabilized, we continued it.

 

Gukesh's passion to become number one

Vishnu said- We did not face any problem. He was very close to becoming the world's youngest Grandmaster. It is difficult to say whether working with engines (computers) would have improved our chances or not (Jo Gukesh missed the record of becoming the world's youngest grandmaster by 17 days). We thought he was playing well. Coming so close to that record is proof in itself that he was doing well. Also, what are the aspects that make Gukesh so good? Talking about this, Vishnu said- He is very passionate about his sport. He doesn't think about anything else. Just focused on one goal. It's a definite passion. Of all the children I have worked with, none have shown the passion that Gukesh has shown. The passion for the game and the obsession with becoming number one.

 

Started working with Vishnu in 2017

Gukesh started working with Vishnu in 2017 when he was barely 11 years old. However, in those early days, Vishnu inspired Gukesh to become world number one and world champion. Vishnu says- Initially we used to talk about becoming world champion and number one. He must have been 10 and a half or 11 years old. He is a fantastic athlete. We thought about the conditions like playing at the top level. I used to talk to him because his ambitions were clear to me even at that age.

 

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'Gukesh's passion for success in chess'

Vishnu said that what contributed to Gukesh getting to where he is today was putting himself in situations that were fraught with risk. Taking any uncertain step. Vishnu says- He never shied away from things like going to the gym or getting up early. I don't think he enjoyed these things. He was very clear about his priorities. That's why he bypassed formats like blitz and rapid and focused on classical chess. Mostly participated in over-the-board events. He did not participate much in online tournaments. He only does this if he needs something to play better chess. This is his passion for success in chess.

 

Gukesh D is a resident of Chennai.

D Gukesh's full name is Domaraju Gukesh and he is a resident of Chennai. Gukesh was born in Chennai on May 7, 2006. Gukesh's father is a doctor while his mother is a microbiologist by profession. Gukesh started playing chess at the age of seven. He was initially coached by Bhaskar. After this, Vishwanathan Anand himself informed him about the game of chess and gave him training.

 

Gukesh won the Under-9 category of the Asian School Chess Championship in 2015 and the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018 in the Under-12 category. Gukesh has won five gold Asian Youth Championships so far. Gukesh became the second youngest grandmaster in chess history in 2019. He nearly surpassed Sergei Karjakin as the youngest-ever Grandmaster but missed the record by 17 days. The record was later surpassed by Abhimanyu Mishra, making Gukesh the third youngest player to do so.

 

Gukesh emerged in the world of senior chess in 2021

In June 2021 he won the Gelfand Challenge on the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, scoring 14 out of 19 points. In August 2022, Gukesh started the 44th Chess Olympiad with a perfect score of 8/8. He helped India defeat the number one-ranked USA in the eighth match. In September 2022, Gukesh reached a rating of more than 2700 for the first time with a rating of 2726. He became the third youngest player to pass 2700 rating points after Wei Yi and Alireza Firozha.

 

In October 2022, Gukesh became the youngest player to defeat Magnus Carlsen in an Amches Rapid tournament since he became world champion. Gukesh became the youngest player ever to reach the rating of 2750 in the August 2023 ratings list. Gukesh participated in the Chess World Cup 2023. He reached the quarterfinals before losing to Magnus Carlsen. In the September 2023 ratings list, Gukesh officially overtook Vishwanathan Anand as the top-ranked Indian player. For the first time in 37 years, Anand was not the top-ranked Indian player.

 

History created in the year 2024

Gukesh qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament with the end of the FIDE circuit in December 2023. He became the third youngest player to play in the Candidates Tournament, behind Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen. Now Gukesh won the 2024 Candidates Tournament and qualified for the 2024 World Championship match against Ding Liren. He became the youngest challenger ever. He will be the youngest player to play in a World Chess Championship match. He was not one of the favorites to win this tournament, but he showed his strong intentions by winning it.

 

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