The second-youngest grandmaster in history, Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju, is a gifted chess player who emerged as the challenger for the 2024 FIDE World Championship on April 21, 2024, after winning the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament with a score of 9/14. At 17 years old, he is the youngest candidate winner in history, and at 18 years old, he will be the youngest champion challenger. Gukesh would become the youngest classical world champion ever if he defeated GM Ding Liren in the World Championship.
Gukesh is one of the most talented chess players in India. At 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days old, he became the General Manager—just 17 days short of GM Sergey Karjakin’s record. As of July 2022, he is the fourth-youngest player to have ever achieved a live rating of 2700. His ranking of eighth in the world and first in India in September 2023 put an end to GM Viswanathan Anand’s 37-year tenure as the country’s highest-ranked player.
Gukesh, the 2023 FIDE Circuit winner, became the youngest player ever to qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament, leading up to the world championship.
Starting Career in Chess (2013–18)
When Gukesh was seven years old, he started learning how to play chess. In comparison to other geniuses, it’s equally late. For example, GMs Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen, two of the most well-known chess sensations in history, began learning the game at the age of five. Some people start learning much earlier.
Gukesh, who is from Chennai, India—the same city as General Manager Viswanathan Anand—can, nevertheless, partially link his early success to his environment. His school, which is a member of the Velammal group of schools in Chennai and produced notable players like GMs Murali Karthikeyan, Aravindh Chithambaram, and, most notably, Praggnanandhaa R., introduced him to chess. Mr. Bhaskar, the school’s first coach, assisted the young student in becoming a FIDE-rated player in just six months of learning the game.
After getting training from Mr. Vijayanand for two years, Gukesh achieved success on the global stage. He took first place in the under-9 division and was awarded the rank of candidate master (CM) in the 2015 Asian School Chess Championships. In 2018, Gukesh had great success by winning his first big tournament. He took home five gold medals from the Asian Youth Chess Championships: under-12 team rapid and blitz, under-12 individual rapid and blitz, and under-12 individual classical. Moreover, Gukesh won the under-12 championship with 10/11 points at the World Youth Championships that same year.
At this time, Gukesh, who was eleven years old, was busy keeping to IM rules. The first took place in October 2017, a few weeks after he began practicing with famous Indian grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna (a longstanding second of Indian grandmaster Baskaran Adhiban), during the First Friday competition in Puchong, Malaysia. In 2018, Gukesh got his second IM norm at the Moscow Open. On March 10, 2018, Gukesh earned his third and last IM norm at the Cappelle la Grande Open with a score of 7/9. At eleven years, nine months, and nine days old, he gets the title of international master.
Gukesh began preparing to become the youngest grandmaster in history within minutes. After taking home the Asian under-12 youth championship in April 2018, he qualified for the Bangkok Open and received his first GM norm. The prodigy had a chance on his side as Gukesh defeated GM Nigel Short in the event for the simple reason that Short missed pressing his clock in a better position. Gukesh earned his second GM standard at the Orbis 2 GM event, where he got 21 rating points and scored 7.5/9 points. At the Sunway Sitges Chess Festival in December 2018, he had the opportunity to receive his last GM norm, which would have made him the youngest grandmaster in history. However, he drew his crucial ninth-round match and fell short of the standard by one-half point.
For two days, Gukesh expressed sadness to ESPN. “After that, I moved on.” His mentor gave him a few thoughts on the unsuccessful attempt to break the record. Prasanna remarked, “I tried not to get him too attached to chasing the GM title.” “I told him that there are many people around us who achieved far more difficult goals and that it won’t be the greatest achievement ever.”
Second-Youngest Grandmaster In History (2019)
At the 17th Delhi International Grandmaster Open, on January 15, 2019, Gukesh earned his third GM standard, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in chess history. At the time, he was 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days old, so he was only 17 days shy of Karjakin’s record.
This success required a sort of global tour. Over 16 months, Gukesh participated in 30 tournaments between his first IM norm and his third GM norm. 276 games in 13 countries were played at that amazing rate.
Prasanna told. “Today is a great day, and I am very happy and proud of Gukesh.” “What sets him apart is his exceptional awareness of strategy and strategic mastery. His capacity for understanding and readiness for new ideas will guarantee that he succeeds in life.
Additional Tournament Success (2019-22)
Gukesh has done well in tournaments since making history by becoming the second-youngest grandmaster of all time.
The 13-year-old tied for second place in the ninth HD Bank Open, which was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in March 2019, two months after winning the title. Gukesh received a 7/9 point score and a tournament performance rating of 2700 in the end. He trailed Wang Hao by half a point, who needed only a tie in the last round to win the tournament completely.
Gukesh had a strong start to 2020. In February, he won his first tournament, which was held in honor of the 110th anniversary of the Danish Hillerod Chess Club. Gukesh, who began as the second seed, beat Chinese GM Chongsheng Zeng, who was ranked first, with an 8/9 score.
For Gukesh’s next competition, his lead stayed. Gukesh received a 7.5/9 at the 2020 Cannes Chess Festival, one week after the Hillerod Chess Club event. He finished first, undefeated, and with a performance rating of 2667. Finishing half the game ahead of GMs Lamard Guillaume and Zeng Chongsheng was Gukesh. Given that the Cannes Open featured more than ten general managers, the competition provided Gukesh with a greater test than the one before.
Gukesh took home gold as an individual and bronze as a team in the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad. With a score of nine points out of eleven, he achieved an individual performance rating of 2867 on board one.
Candidates and Competitor (2023–24)
With a victory in the Junior Speed Chess Championship in 2023, Gukesh’s outstanding young career continued. He won the eight-player knockout tournament by defeating GM Pranav V, GM Raunak Sadhwani, and IM Emin Ohanyan. He became the youngest player in history to go beyond the 2750 FIDE rating barrier in July. With his victory at the Chennai Masters in December, he qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
On April 4, 2024, Gukesh started the Candidates Tournament as one of the favorites. But after the fifth round, he was tied for first. Gukesh lost to GM Alireza Firouzja in the seventh round, but it was only a break on the way; by the eleventh round, he was still without a share of the lead. That changed with two successive victories against GM Nijat Abasov in rounds 12 and 13, followed by a victory against Firouzja in the rematch.
Gukesh was only a half-point ahead of the three pre-tournament favorites, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Fabiano Caruana, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the previous two Candidates Tournaments, after his win over Firouzja gave him sole control of top place going into the final round. To put it simply, the four faced off: Caruana against Nepomniachtchi, and Gukesh against Nakamura.
Gukesh would be eliminated from the event with a loss, but a win would ensure his place in the finals. Assuming there was a winner in the Caruana-Nepomniachtchi match, a draw would ensure at least a playoff matchup with that player.
Gukesh never really faced any danger when using the black pieces, and he led the game to a draw. Caruana, meantime, kept up the pressure on Nepomniachtchi, but after move 30, he was unable to win the game due to time problems.
Gukesh was formally the world title challenger after Caruana, seeing his chances declining offered Nepomniachtchi a draw after his 109th move, which Nepomniachtchi knowingly accepted. Ding Liren is waiting now.
Present And Future
Gukesh has had every aspect necessary for success. He attended the Velammal School, one of India’s finest institutions. Prasanna is a world-class coach to him. Additionally, to support his kid at competitions, his father, an ENT surgeon, has made and still makes professional sacrifices.
Gukesh is still a phenomenal chess player. He is currently one tournament away from winning the world championship in chess, having made history as the second-youngest grandmaster ever. He has stayed committed to advancing in his career.