India writes chess history as 17-year-old Gukesh D becomes the youngest ever winner of the FIDE Candidates Chess Championship in Toronto. The teenager was one of the pillars of the chess revolution that India sparked across the globe and became the youngest challenger for the world title with his win at the tournament. Gukesh only needs a draw with American Hikaru Nakamura in the 14th and final round to clinch the title. He scored a total of 9 points out of 14.

This is only the second time in the history of Indian sports that a player has won the Candidates Championship. The last victory was in 2014 when the legendary Viswanathan Anand claimed the title. With this victory, Gukesh also won a cash prize of 88,500 euros (approximately Rs. 78.50 lakh). The total prize money for the candidates is EUR 5,00,000.

The teenage prodigy is now just one step away from surpassing the record set by the legendary Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.

🇮🇳 Gukesh leaves the venue after winning the 2024 championship #fIDEcandidate!pic.twitter.com/REZMIfOO9q

— FIDE (@FIDE_chess) April 22, 2024

Who is the chess candidate champion Gukesh D?

Gukesh was only 7 years old when he learned to play chess. Gukesh hails from Chennai, the same city as managing director Viswanathan Anand, and his school, part of the Veeramal Group of Schools in Chennai, was his introduction to chess. Gukesh’s first coach at school, Mr. Bhaskar, quickly recognized the boy’s potential and helped him become a FIDE-rated player just 6 months after learning the game.

Vijayanand then became Gukesh’s coach and the boy started achieving success at the international level. At the 2015 Asian Secondary School Chess Championship, he won the Under-9 category and also won the Candidate Master (CM) title. His first big win came in 2018. Gukesh won 5 medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championship. In the same year, he won the championship in the under-12 group at the World Youth Championship with a score of 10/11.

Gukesh became an international master at the age of 11 years, 9 months and 9 days. He then began his quest to become the youngest grandmaster in the history of the sport.

Gukesh’s first great achievement came in January 2019, when he earned the title of Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, just 17 days behind GM Sher Records by GM Sergey Karjakin.

Gukesh has long been considered one of India’s brightest chess talents. In July 2022, his real-time rating reached 2,700. In the process, he became the fourth youngest player ever to reach this level.

The chess prodigy continues to go strong at the international level after becoming the second youngest grandmaster in history. He won a team bronze medal and an individual gold medal at the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad.

In 2023, he also won the Youth Speed ​​Chess Championship. He defeated IM Emin Ohanyan, GM Pranav V and GM Raunak Sadhwani to win the title. According to Chess.com, in July this year, he passed the FIDE rating mark of 2,750 points, becoming the youngest player in history to reach this level.

With PTI input