India's Grandmaster D Gukesh has created history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament. 17 year old Gukesh has become the youngest challenger for the World Championship title.
Broke 40year old record
India's Grandmaster D Gukesh has created history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament. 17 year old Gukesh has become the youngest challenger for the World Championship title. He broke the 40 year old record of Garry Kasparov. Gukesh played a draw with Hikaru Nakamura of America in the 14th and last round. He had 9 points out of 14 in this tournament which determines the challenger of the world champion. He will challenge current world champion Ding Liren of China at the end of the year.
Chennai resident D Gukesh has become the second Indian after Vishwanathan Anand to win this prestigious tournament. Five-time world champion Anand had won the title in 2014. D Gukesh also broke Kasparov's record. Kasparov was 22 years old in 1984 when he challenged Russia's Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship title.
Gukesh said this after winning
Gukesh said after the victory, 'I am feeling very relieved. I was watching the match between Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepamniachtchi. After this he went for a walk which helped.' Gukesh also received 88500 Euros (Rs 78.5 lakh) as reward. The total prize money of this tournament is five lakh euros.
Vishwanathan wrote this on X
Vishwanathan Anand wrote on X, 'Congratulations to D Gukesh on becoming the youngest challenger. Proud of your achievement. Personally, I am very proud of you for the way you played in difficult circumstances. Enjoy this moment.' Gukesh won the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 and became the third youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess. He also won a silver medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Youngest Challenger
Gukesh needed only a draw to become the youngest challenger and he did not hesitate against Nakamura. On the other hand, the match between Caruana and Nepamniachtchi also ended in a draw. If either of them had won, there would have been a tiebreak. Caruana, Nepamniachtchi and Nakamura all have 8. Scored 5 points and stood joint second.Indian Grandmaster R Praggnananda finished fifth with seven points, defeating Nizat Abbasov of Azerbaijan. Vidit Gujarati played a draw with Firozha Aliraja of France and finished sixth. Aliraja finished seventh and Abbasov finished eighth