India’s D Gukesh will face reigning world champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship in November-December of this year. Indian teenage Grandmaster is gearing up to take on China’s Liren for the world title. Emil Sutovsky, CEO of FIDE, the worldwide governing body of chess, announced this on social media after the 17-year-old from Chennai won the Candidates tournament in Toronto, a prestigious eight-player event held to select the world champion’s challenger. The venue for the contest is yet to be decided.
Gukesh, a teenager, defeated a trio of stalwarts: America’s Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi to win the Candidates on Monday. While Nepomniachtchi is a two-time World Championship contender, World No. 2 Caruana was competing in his fifth Candidates event, having won one previously. Meanwhile, Nakamura, the world number three, competed in his third Candidates event. Gukesh fell to second place in the open rankings at the Candidates Chess Tournament 2024 with his defeat.
Despite their experience, they were unable to stop Candidates newcomer Gukesh from breasting the tape first. With one round remaining, Gukesh had surged into the lead, with the trio behind by half a point. Gukesh only needed a draw with Nakamura in his final game if Caruana and Nepomniachtchi drew as well. If either of the latter won, they would face Gukesh in a tiebreaker match.
Gukesh became India’s youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years, seven months, and 17 days, missing the title of world’s youngest by just 17 days. Last year, he surpassed five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as the country’s top-ranked player for the first time in 36 years. Now, he has added another achievement to his remarkable resume by becoming the youngest ever Candidates winner, and he will be the youngest World Chess Championship candidate when he faces Ding later this year.
This year, five Indians qualified for the Candidates, with three in the open event and two in the women’s event. Gukesh’s triumph at the Candidates, making him the youngest man ever to qualify for the World Chess Championships, will undoubtedly draw notice. However, there were other indicators of India’s burgeoning sporting stature: in the women’s section, for example, veteran Humpy Koneru and 22-year-old first-timer Vaishali ended up tied for second place on points. In FIDE’s rankings list for April 2024, there are five Indian men among the top 25. In the women’s ranks, there are three Indians among the top 15.
