Magnificent year turns magical

Dommaraju Gukesh, all of 18-years, scripted history to become the youngest ever Classical World Chess Champion by defeating reigning Champion Ding Liren of China with a 7.5-6.5 score at Singapore.

In the final 14th game, Gukesh defeated Liren with the Black pieces to be crowned the 18th World Chess Champion, becoming the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious title.

A magnificent year where Chennai-based Gukesh made a clean sweep of all the top titles in chess, winning the team gold for India at the Chess Olympiad along with an individual gold on the top board and the clear-cut Candidates title early this year in Canada which earned him the right as the Challenger to contest for the World title.

The World title was one dream which he had unhesitatingly stated as his ultimate goal years ago, culminated much earlier than expected or anticipated by many.

Calm, composed and cool is an image Gukesh carried throughout his campaigns but the moment he became the World Champion, he burst into tears of joy, threw up his arms in exuberance, hugged his father tightly and his second Grzegorz Gajewski.

Gukesh did start as a favourite for the title in the 14-game match, incidentally the first time in the history of chess that two Asians were contesting for the World title. Many opined that 32-year-old Ding Liren who had been going through a tough time professionally and personally in the last couple of years would not be able to produce his best.

However as the Match progressed, the going was not exactly Gukesh’s way, right from the word go with Ding winning the first game with the Black pieces. Gukesh hit back immediately in the third game with Whites to equalise and consecutive draws followed till Gukesh took the lead by winning 11th game.  Ding too produced a beauty of a game to immediately bounce back with a victory in the 12th game. This was a hard-hitting blow and many wondered how Gukesh would deal with it.

The 13th game was drawn while the 14th game too appeared heading towards a draw and a tie-break which would be contested in the shorter time controls. Gukesh kept pressing in a slightly advantageous position and Ding lost way to hand the game to Gukesh.

Five time World Champion Anand has been supporting Indian prodigies like Praggnaanandha, Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi through his WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) and interestingly Gajewski and Radoslaw Wojtaszek who assisted Gukesh have been part of Team Anand during his World Championship triumphs.

Gukesh’s chess has had a solid aura throughout this year, one which he had promised during another fabulous run at the Chennai Chess Olympiad in 2022 as an 16-year-old. However the speed with which this young knight galloped this year has stunned the chess pundits and Liren in this match.

The highlight of Gukesh’s games has been his uncompromising attitude for shared, quick draws and his hunger to explore the position to the fullest even when it offered even the tiniest opportunity to press and push for victory. Gukesh wasn’t unfazed by losses nor did he get carried away by victories. Five decisive games in any World Championship is a rarity in modern chess.

However here, one cannot forget Ukranian Ruslan Ponomariov who also at 18 years, a few months younger than Gukesh, had won the FIDE knock-out World Championship in 2002 when FIDE experimented with various formats for the World Championship from knock-out to Double Round Robin tournament when there was a split in the Organization.

But for now it is Gukesh’s time to shine and bask in the glory!!

Magnificent year turns magical

Highlights - Game 14 Moves Ding Liren vs D Gukesh: 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4 e6 5.0–0 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nge7 7.c4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qd1 d4 10.e3 Bc5 11.exd4 Bxd4 12.Nc3 0–0 13.Nb5 Bb6 14.b3 a6 15.Nc3 Bd4 16.Bb2 e5 17.Qd2 Be6 18.Nd5 b5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.Nf4 exf4 21.Bxc6 Bxb2 22.Qxb2 Rb8 23.Rfd1 Qb6 24.Bf3 fxg3 25.hxg3 b4 26.a4 bxa3 27.Rxa3 g6 28.Qd4 Qb5 29.b4 Qxb4 30.Qxb4 Rxb4 31.Ra8 Rxa8 32.Bxa8 g5 33.Bd5 Bf5 34.Rc1 Kg7 35.Rc7 Bg6 36.Rc4 Rb1+ 37.Kg2 Re1 38.Rb4 h5 39.Ra4 Re5 40.Bf3 Kh6 41.Kg1 Re6 42.Rc4 g4 43.Bd5 Rd6 44.Bb7 Kg5 45.f3 f5 46.fxg4 hxg4 47.Rb4 Bf7 48.Kf2 Rd2+ 49.Kg1 Kf6 50.Rb6+ Kg5 51.Rb4 Be6 52.Ra4 Rb2 53.Ba8 Kf6 54.Rf4 Ke5 55.Rf2 Rxf2 56.Kxf2 Bd5 57.Bxd5 Kxd5 58.Ke3 Ke5. White resigned.

A star in the making

Name: Gukesh Dommaraju Born: May 29 2006

Born to a Telugu speaking family in Chennai Gukesh started playing chess at the age of seven and instantly took a major liking for it. He started competing in tournaments right away and his natural talent was evident as he started winning from the get-go. Gukesh won the Under-9 title at the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015. In 2018 Gukesh bagged the U-12 title at the World Youth Chess Championships. 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.

In March 2017 he completed all the requirements for the title of International Master. On 15 January 2019 at the age of 12 years 7 months and 17 days Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in history only surpassed by Sergey Karjakin by 17 days. The record has since been beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra making Gukesh the third-youngest. At the 44th Chess Olympiad in August 2022 he bagged a gold medal and was instrumental in Team India 2 finishing third.

In September 2022 Gukesh reached a rating of over 2700 for the first time with a rating of 2726m making him the third-youngest player to pass 2700 after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja.

At the Aimchess Rapid tournament in October 2022 Gukesh became the youngest player to beat Magnus Carlsen since the latter became World Champion. l In the August 2023 rating list Gukesh became the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2750.

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.

In 2023 he was voted the Player of the Year by the Asian Chess Federation. Gukesh’s father Dr Rajnikanth is an ENT surgeon while mother Padma is a microbiologist.