Gukesh Dommaraju

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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. 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.

Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh in 2024
CountryIndia
Born (2006-05-29) 29 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 place 2024 Singapore Men's individual
Olympiad
Gold medal – first place 2022 Chennai Open individual board 1
Gold medal – first place 2024 Budapest Open team
Gold medal – first place 2024 Budapest Open individual board 1
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Chennai Open team
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Hangzhou Men's team
World Youth Championship
Gold medal – first place 2020 Online Boys' individual
Gold medal – first place 2018 Santiago de Compostela Boys' individual
Asian Youth Championship
Gold medal – first place 2018 Chiang Mai Individual rapid
Gold medal – first place 2018 Chiang Mai Individual blitz
Gold medal – first place 2018 Chiang Mai Team rapid
Gold medal – first place 2018 Chiang Mai Team blitz
Gold medal – first place 2018 Chiang Mai Individual classical

Born in Chennai, Gukesh started playing chess at the age of seven. He won the under-12 title at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018, and multiple gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championship. He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017. On 15 January 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, he became the then second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game, after Sergey Karjakin. He was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men's team competition.

Gukesh won a team bronze and an individual gold medal at the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022. In the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024, he won both the team and individual gold medals. He won the 2024 Candidates Tournament conducted to identify the challenger to Ding Liren for the World Chess Championship, and became its youngest ever winner. At the subsequent World Chess Championship 2024, he defeated Liren to win the title, and became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion at the age of 18 years.[a]

Early life

Gukesh was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family.[3] His family hails from Chenchuraju Kandriga near Satyavedu in the erstwhile Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.[4][5] His father Rajinikanth is an ENT surgeon, who moved to Chennai to pursue his medical career, and married Padmavathi, a microbiologist.[6][7] He studied at the Velammal Vidyalaya School, in Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai.[8]

Chess beginnings

Gukesh learned to play chess at the age of seven in 2013, and eventually began structured one-hour sessions three times a week.[9] He dropped out of school after Class IV, i.e. in elementary school, to focus on the chess career. In 2017, his father quit his job to travel with Gukesh for various tournaments, and Gukesh was sponsored by his parents' friends during the time.[10] His extraordinary talent was recognized institutionally early on, and he became one of the many beneficiaries of the robust Indian chess ecosystem.[11]

Career

Early career (2015–2019)

Gukesh won the under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015.[12] He won the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018 in the under-12 category.[13] In the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championship, he won a record five gold medals in the under-12 events in individual rapid, blitz and classical formats, and the team rapid and blitz competitions.[14] He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.[15]

On 15 January 2019, Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, behind Sergey Karjakin.[16][17][b] In June 2021, he won the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, Gelfand Challenge, scoring 14 out of 19 points.[19]

Olympiad gold and Candidates qualification (2022-2023)

In August 2022, Gukesh won the individual gold medal on the first board in the open event at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai with a score of nine out of 11. He was part of the India-2 team won the bronze medal in the same tournament.[20][21] In September 2022, he was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men's team competition.[22] In the same month, Gukesh reached a FIDE rating of over 2700 for the first time with a rating of 2726, and became the third-youngest to do so after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja.[23][24] During the Aimchess Rapid tournament in October 2022, Gukesh became the youngest to beat the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.[25]

In the August 2023, Gukesh became the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2750.[26] In the Chess World Cup 2023 at Baku, he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Carlsen.[27] In the September 2023 rating list, Gukesh 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.[28][29] In December 2023, Gukesh qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament, to be conducted to identify the challenger to Ding Liren for the World Chess Championship.[30] He finished second in the FIDE Circuit behind Fabiano Caruana, and took the qualifying spot reserved for the winner, as Caruana had already qualified through the Chess World Cup.[31] He was the third youngest player to qualify for a Candidates tournament, behind Bobby Fischer and Carlsen.[32][33]

Double olympiad gold and World championship (2024-present)

 
Gukesh (left) playing Alireza Firouzja at the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

In January 2024, Gukesh finished in a four-way tie for the first place in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 with a score of 8.5 in 13 rounds. He defeated Anish Giri in the semifinals before losing to Yi in the finals of the tiebreaker.[34] In April 2024, Gukesh was part of the eight-player Candidates Tournament held in Toronto. He won five games against R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi playing as black, Firouzja playing as white, and Nijat Abasov playing as both black and white. With a single loss coming against Firouzja, he finished with nine points from 14 rounds to win the tournament.[35][36] He was the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates tournament.[37][38][39]

In September 2024, Gukesh took part in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest as part of the Indian team. He did not lose a single match and won the individual gold medal with a score of nine across ten rounds. His performance on board one helped India to win their first ever team gold medal at the Olympiad.[40] As a result of the win, Gukesh entered the top-five in the FIDE rankings for the first time on 1 October 2024.[41][42]

The 2024 World Chess Championship was held in November-December 2024 between Gukesh and Liren. Gukesh scored three wins against two wins for Liren, and eight draws in the 14 classical rounds of the tournament. He won the 14th and final match on 12 December 2024, and as a result, the World Chess Championship by a scoreline of 7.5–6.5.[43][44] The win made him the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion.[45][46][a] FIDE commented on Gukesh's gameplay as having "near-perfect accuracy", and Ding reacted that it was his best tournament of the year, and that he had no regrets in losing the title to Gukesh.[47]

Playing style

Gukesh plays a reactive game and has a notable ability to calculate under time pressure, hence his games often evolve into complex tactical battles.[48] His mentor Anand describes him as having "incredible calculating abilities".[49] Carlsen regards Gukesh's style of play as "pure counter" and opined that Gukesh makes very few mistakes, which makes him "an extremely dangerous opponent under any circumstances."[50] His style has also borne comparison with former World Champion Anatoly Karpov.[51]

Select results

World Chess Championship 2024
Rating Match games Points
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
  Gukesh Dommaraju (IND) 2783 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1
  Ding Liren (CHN) 2728 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0

Awards and honours

Year Award Category Result Ref(s)
2023 Asian Chess Federation Player of the Year Won [52]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Ruslan Ponomariov won the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 at a younger age, but the Championship was split, with Gary Kasparov holding the original title.[1][2]
  2. ^ The record has since been beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra, making Gukesh the third-youngest.[18]

References

  1. ^ Lundstrom, Harold (23 July 1993). "Many Fans Root For Rebels In Fight With Chess Federation". The Deseret News. p. 12. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  2. ^ "The Week in Chess 377". Week in Chess. 29 January 2002. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2003.
  3. ^ Kanukula, Sumanth (13 December 2024). "Celebrations in AP with Gukesh's victory.. His grandfather's hometown is somewhere in Andhra Pradesh". Times Now News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. 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.
  4. ^ "Manode.. Chess world champion". Eenadu (in Telugu). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Dommaraju Gukesh becomes world chess champion". Sakshi (in Telugu). 13 December 2004. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Dommaraju Gukesh : He gave up his career as a doctor for his son..he conquered the world at 18 years old". News18 (in Telugu). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  7. ^ Prasad RS (16 January 2019). "My achievement hasn't yet sunk in: Gukesh". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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Achievements
Preceded by World Chess Champion
2024–present
Incumbent