"The Golden Boy Who Revolutionized the World: Gukesh's Impressive Rise to Greatness."

"The Golden Boy Who Revolutionized the World: Gukesh's Impressive Rise to Greatness."

 

Whenever the year 2024 will be mentioned in the annals of chess, India will always be remembered for its exemplary performance and sheer domination. Many players like Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandha, Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram and Women players like Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Tania Sachdev, Divya Deshmukh brought laurels to our nation by winning tournament after tournament putting India on the global map as the “Chess Superpower”.

Among all these players there’s this one Indian player, whatever he touched turned into gold and he is the sole player ever in the history of chess to win the Candidates tournament, Chess Olympiad and the World Chess Championship all in the same year. He is none other than Gukesh Dommaraju, the chess prodigy who has recently become the youngest ever World Chess Champion at the tender age of 18 breaking the previous world record held by Garry Kasparov of Soviet Union who became a World Champion at 22 years 6 months and 27 days.

 

Early Childhood years :

Born on May 29, 2006, in Chennai as the only child of Dr. Padmakumari (mother) and Dr. Rajinikanth (father), Gukesh hails from a humble middle-class family. It looked like he was like any other normal kid who went to school, did his homework, play, eat and sleep. At 2013, the World Chess Championship took place in Chennai where the reigning and the 5 time World Champion at that point Vishwanathan Anand was facing the young and extremely strong Magnus Carlsen from Norway aged 22.

Gukesh who was only 7 years old at that point went to see one of the 12 matches which was played and although that match did not go in favor of Anand but it created a huge spark of interest in Gukesh for chess. India lost the World Championship Crown at 2013 but who would’ve guessed that a little young spectator from that crowd would one day go on to become the Youngest World Chess Champion and regain India’s lost glory.

 

Beginning as a Chess Player:

Gukesh showed promising signs as he began playing chess. He constantly came in the top 3 spots of every tournament that he played. He showed great resilience right from the start of his chess career. His chess coaching initially began in Velammal School, Chennai where he also studied. Identifying the prodigious talent in him the school authorities gave him permission to travel to tournaments asking him to not worry about the attendance or studies. The school authorities even sponsored some of the travel expenses which played a pivotal role in Gukesh’s development as a player. On 2017, Gukesh met his first ever professional coach Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna in a summer camp where the coach found out the immense positional abilities that Gukesh possessed in chess.

Soon both started working together in order to improve different areas of his game. One of the key elements which his coach employed which helped Gukesh to grow as a player is to not use chess engines for training rather to use your own brain to think. This training technique helped Gukesh to improve tremendously in his calculation skills. Gukesh in 2017 onwards, started chasing the youngest Grandmaster record which was held by a Russian Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin at 12 years and 7 months. He started playing multiple tournaments across Europe with his father who always accompanied him. Gukesh became the Youngest Grandmaster of India and 2^nd Youngest Grandmaster in the world on 15^th January 2019 at the age of 12 years 7 months and 17 days missing the world record by a mere gap of 17 days.

 

Rising through the Ranks:

Gukesh's chess career was on the rise and he was gaining rating points quickly inching towards the 2600 mark. That's when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the young boy was prevented from playing in tournaments for the next year and a half. During this lockdown period the former World Champion and the first Grandmaster of India Vishwanathan Anand opened a chess academy called the “Westbridge Anand Chess Academy” commonly called as WACA. Anand chose the young budding talents from the country who cannot afford expensive coaching.

 His goal was to make India a chess superpower by grooming the youngsters of the country, providing them with high quality coaching by taking help of renowed world class players like Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik, Grzegorz Gajewski and many more. The lockdown phase although was a curse for others, proved to be a blessing in disguise for Gukesh as he went through intense chess training in this period. The moment things opened up, Gukesh participated in a series of events, gaining 25 Elo points and pumping his Elo from 2578 to 2603! The Chennai lad managed to cross 2600 at the tender age of 15 years, 2 months and 27 days - third youngest in India after Praggnanandha and Nihal Sarin.

 

The Breakthrough:

The breakthrough year of Gukesh’s carrier was in 2022 where he played for team India in the Chess Olympiad which was hosted at Chennai.

As

the hosting country India were allowed to bring 3 teams into the 44^th Chess Olympiad. Gukesh was playing at the first board of the India-B team. Everyone thought that India-B team wouldn’t do great but to everyone's surprise India-B team finished 3^rd in the Chess Olympiad ahead of t India-A team and the primary reason for India-B teams success was the player at board 1. Out of 11 rounds, Gukesh won the first 8 rounds in a row even defeating world no 2 American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces. As everyone during the course of the Olympiad thought India-B team to be a favorite to win a Gold Medal a heartbreak took place. India lost to Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5 in a very tough encounter. Gukesh was playing on board one against a strong Uzbeki Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Throughout the game Gukesh had a very decent advantage but he succumbed to time pressure and made a one move blunder which costed India its Gold Medal. Gukesh seemed devastated after the game but came back at the last round and ensured that India seals a podium finish at the Chess Olympiad. He secured a bronze medal for India and an Individual Gold medal at board no 1 for scoring 9/11 points and playing with a tournament rating performance of 2867 ELO. In the same tournament Gukesh surpassed the rating barrier of 2700’s entering into a Elite level where he showed the world where he really belongs.

 

Qualification to the Candidates Tournament:

To play at the World Championship a player has to win the candidates tournament. Candidates is a 8 player double round robin tournament in which each player plays his opponent twice. The winner of the Candidates tournament gets to play the World champion at the World Chess Championship held by the international governing body of chess called as Federation Internationale De Echecs(FIDE). Gukesh qualified to the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament through highest FIDE Circuit points. Circuit points are awarded to a player when he wins or finishes 2^nd or 3^rd in a tournament. At the end the total Circuit points for every player is calculated and the player with most circuit points ends up qualifying for the Candidates. Gukesh was lacking a few circuit points to qualify for the candidates tournament so the Tamil Nadu government organized a closed invitational tournament

called the Chennai Grandmasters so that Gukesh could qualify for the Candidates. Although the field included many strong players still Gukesh managed to emerge on top winning the tournament and qualifying for the Candidates. There are many more routes to Qualify for the Candidates like finishing in top 3 at Chess World Cup, finishing in top 2 at Chess Grand Swiss etc.

 

Candidates 2024:

Candidates 2024 was played at Toronto, Canada. The playing field consisted of 8 players and each player plays their opponent twice making the tournament a 14 round double round robin event. The playing field consisted

of various strong players like Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Nijat Abasov, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and D Gukesh himself. Gukesh quickly struck in round 2 of Candidates tournament by defeating his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa.

In round 5 he also defeated GM Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan. At the 7^th round things took an unexpected turn as Gukesh found himself in time scramble against the French GM Alireza Firouzja, made a couple of errros and lost the game. Gukesh sat down after the game, dejected in his chair even after players left the playing hall. This loss of Gukesh was followed by a rest day which gave enough time for Gukesh to recover. At the very next round i.e Round 8 he immediately seized the opportunity with the black pieces and managed to defeat his countryman Vidit Gujrathi. This displays his resilience and his ability to forget the past and be in the present which differentiates best from the rest.Then on the subsequent rounds 12 and 13 he defeated GM Nijat Abasov and Alireza Firouzja and was on clear first position with one round to spare.

 GM’s Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi were tied for second place, half a point behind Gukesh and they needed to win in order to overtake Gukesh in the tournament standings. On the final 14^th round, Gukesh was paired up with Hikaru Nakamura who was in a must win situation if he had to win the tournament. Gukesh with his brilliant defensive play held Nakamura to a draw eliminating Nakamura’s chances to win the Candidates 2024. Now on the other board Fabiano Caruana was paired with Ian Nepomniachtchi who both were tied for second place and both needed 1 full point to win the event. Both went for each others head and at some point Fabiano Caruana was completely winning but as the stakes were high, nerves got to him and he made couple of inaccuracies and that  game ended in a draw which made Gukesh the outright sole winner of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 with a score of 9/14. He became the Youngest ever player to win the Candidates Tournament in History at the age of 17 years and 11 months breaking the record of Legendary Grandmaster Garry Kasparov who achieved this feat at the age of 20.

The entire country was ecstatic seeing Gukesh’s performance as he was only the second Indian to achieve this feat after Vishwanathan Anand. He made it into national and international headlines and also gained the attention of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi who appreciated and congratulated Gukesh’s achievement. The Tamil Nadu state government also acknowledged Gukesh’s performance by awarding him a huge cash prize and his school Velammal Nexus gifted Gukesh a Mercedes Benz for winning the Candidates and making to the World Championship.

 

Chess Olympiad 2024:

The 45th Chess Olympiad was an international team chess event organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Budapest, Hungary, from 10 to 23 September 2024.

As many as 170+ countries sent their best players to participate in this team event. The Indian team was looking really strong with players like D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna. Many people before the start of the event were of the opinion that it will be a easy win for India as every player in the Indian team was above the Elo rating of 2700 which is a extremely difficult rating to achieve.

As the event started, Indian team literally bulldozed every country they played against. They only drew against Uzbekistan(2-2) whom in the previous Olympiad they lost to. Gukesh who was playing at the first board delivered the best performance by board one in an Olympiad with an impeccable score of 9/10 and a Tournament Performance Rating(TPR) of 3056 which is the second best TPR by an individual in the history of chess. On board 3, Arjun Erigaisi scored an astonishing 10/11 with a TPR of 2968.

Both Gukesh and Arjun were primarily responsible for India winning a  Gold Medal at the 45^th Chess Olympiad undefeated throughout. R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna also delivered crucial wins for team India and contributed to the success. Not only the men's team but also the women's Indian Olympiad team won gold and it was a clean sweep for the Indians. Gukesh and Arjun won both team gold and individual gold for their outstanding performance at the Olympiad. The Indian team were received at the airport with a grand reception and every state government appreciated their players and gave cash prizes and felicitated them. The Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met both the Indian men's and women’s team and had a one to one discussion with all the players where players shared their experiences.

                                                                                                    

 

The World Chess Championship:

 

The World Championship 2024 was held in Singapore from 25^th November to 12^th December 2024 between the challenger, Dommaraju Gukesh from India and the reigning World Chess Champion from China, Ding Liren.

 

The World Chess Championships is a match of 14 classical games where the player who scores 7.5 points first wins the championship. The time controls are 2 hours per player till move 40 and then 30 mins are added to each player for the remaining of the game. If the match is tied 7-7 then the game proceeds to the tie breaks where 4 rapid games of time control 25 minutes per player are played and the player who wins the Rapid segment with 2.5 points wins the World Championship. Usually the result is decided in the Rapid tiebreaks but if by any chance the rapid tiebreaks are also tied 2-2 then 5 blitz games are played with time control of 3 minutes per player.

About Ding: Ding Liren, aged 32 is the strongest chess grandmaster China has ever produced. He was on World top 10 for more than half a decade and was World no 2 for almost 3 years. In his career he has defeated some very strong players including Magnus Carlsen who is regarded widely as the Greatest Chess player of all time. Ding Liren won the World Championship in 2023 by defeating his rival Ian Nepomniachtchi in tiebreaks(2.5-1.5) thereby winning the World Championships.

                                

Match Analysis:

Game 1: Gukesh had the white pieces in the first game and as it was his first world championship match, pressure and nerves got to him and Gukesh lost the first game of the WCC. Everyone was expecting Gukesh to show his best form as he showed in the Olympiad but at the highest level the pressure was something else as he was carrying the burden of 1.4 Billion Indians on his shoulders just at the age of 18.

                                                                               

Game 2 was a smooth draw.

 

Game 3 : As Ding was leading the match 1.5-0.5 it was absolutely essential for Gukesh to strike and this was the game he again showed his resilience. He had the white pieces and completely outplayed his opponent, built a huge time advantage and exerted a lot of pressure on Ding Liren. Ding came down to his last few seconds and at the end due to complexity of the position, lost on time. This was the second time that a player has lost on time in the WCC. This game built momentum for Gukesh for the upcoming matches and boosted his confidence.

Games 4-10: The next 7 consecutive games ended in a draw. Gukesh had a chance to win both in Game 7 and 8 but squandered away his advantage by making couple of inaccuracies and finally both games ended in a draw.

 

Game 11: Gukesh in constant search to score a win, played ambitiously with the white pieces on game 11 and took Ding into an unknown teritorry where he was not prepared well. Gukesh was up on time for most of the game and applied tremendous pressure over the board. At the end pressure got to Ding Liren and he blundered his knight away and Gukesh found this resourceful Queen Sacrifice which ended the game on the spot. For the first time in this match Gukesh was leading. Only 3 games were left and Ding had to strike back in order to level the scores.

 

Game 12: Ding shows that he is a World Champion for a reason. Ding Liren played exceptional chess completely outplaying Gukesh and found one good move after other and Gukesh lost Game 12 equalizing the score to 6-6 each. Gukesh was absolutely furious on himself for letting Ding equalizing the match. The players had a rest day before the penultimate game which gave Gukesh some time to recover and prepare.

 

Game 13: Gukesh with the white pieces pushed for the win and had a great position at some point but Ding played the absolute best defensive moves and prevented Gukesh to win the penultimate game and it ended in a draw. The players are tied 6.5-6.5 each with final round to go.

 

The Decider(Game 14): The most important match in both of their lives as a win or a loss can decide their future. Ding with the white pieces played normal chess without taking any risks as a loss in game 14 won’t give any chances to make a comeback as it is the last game of the 14 game match. Both players did not go for the win but played sensible moves without much risks. The game seemed a dead draw and many top grandmasters who were following the game also thought so including the 5 time World Champion Vishwanathan Anand as he mentioned in Chess Base India livestream that 99.73% it will end in a draw. But as the saying goes, when something is written in your destiny, you will get it however impossible the circumstances be.

Ding Liren, in a hurry to exchange all the pieces quickly forgot that his bishop is trapped on the corner of the board and on the 55^th move of Game 14 he blundered his bishop leaving Gukesh in a winning pawn ending. As soon as Gukesh realized that Ding has blundered he literally was shaking from top to toe because of adrenaline rush. He knew that this was the moment that he waited for his entire life and now when it was just a few moves far from him he couldn’t believe his eyes. He got himself relaxed by drinking water and double-triple checked the move he was about to make and finally he played the winning move which lead him to ultimate glory. Ding immediately saw that this endgame was completely losing for him and he immediately resigned the game and left the hall dejected. As soon as Ding resigned the game Gukesh’s joy knew no bounds and tears of joy rolled through his cheeks and he finally came to terms with the fact that his childhood dream of becoming the Youngest World Chess Champion has come true. Gukesh’s Father who accompanied him in this world championship match was absolutely ecstatic and hugged his boy after the game.

Gukesh’s trainer Grzegorz Gajewski also embraided Gukesh and both shed tears of joy. All the hardwork sown in the form of seeds has given them the fruit. Gukesh gave the press conference as per the protocol and headed straight to his hotel room. Gukesh describes that he did not even sleep a single minute that night, was busy attending calls and millions and millions of messages flooded his social media handles congratulating his feat which would stand the test of time as he has broken the world record for the Youngest World Champion by an unbelievable margin of 4 years, second youngest World Champion being Garry Kasparov at age 22.

 

                          

Post WC Events:

From celebrities to famous sportspersons of India including cricketers, hockey players, footballers, Olympians etc. to other politicians and even Elon Musk congratulated Gukesh for his success. Gukesh got a prize of 11.5 crores INR and the Tamil Nadu government felicitated him with an amount of 5 crores INR.

Gukesh was invited by Prime Minister Modi and was felicitated.

Gukesh also as a mark of celebration did Bungee Jumping in Singapore with his trainer although the former accepted that he’s scared of heights.

On his return to Chennai airport millions of people gathered for his grand reception and Gukesh was given security so as to safely enter the car.

 

Role of Parents:

Both of Gukesh’s parents are practicing Doctors. Dr. Padmakumari is a microbiologist and his father Dr. Rajinikanth was a ENT surgeon. Gukesh’s father gave up his profession as soon as Gukesh showed his promising talent and travelled with him inside and outside India accompanying for tournaments and taking care of each and everything so that his son could only focus on chess. His father is now also his manager who helps Gukesh plan his Chess Calendar i.e. number of tournaments to be played in a particular year. His mother has always been an emotional and spiritual support for him says Gukesh in one of his interviews after becoming a World Champion. Both of them have sacrificed a lot which is the reason that we see Gukesh soaring high up in the sky.

                           

 

Foresight:

After Gukesh won the under-11 national championships in 2017 the founder of ChessBase India, Sagar Shah interviewed the young boy where he analyzed the game with him and at the end of the interview Sagar Shah asked the 11 year old about his ambition in chess. His reply to that question was “I want to become the YOUNGEST WORLD CHESS CHAMPION”. Such was his amazing foresight.

Gukesh is truly a Golden Boy who has brought laurels to Indian Chess and will definitely continue to inspire a generation of young talents in India and beyond.

 

 

Author

Govindaraaj Iyer