D Gukesh wins Candidates Chess tournament, becomes youngest challenger to world title

D Gukesh created history by winning the Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto on Sunday. The 17-year-old Indian Grandmaster becomes the youngest challenger to the world title, bettering a record created by Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.

With the tournament going to the final round and three in contention to qualify for the world title match, Gukesh played out a draw with Hikaru Nakamura to finish with nine out of a possible 14 points.

The triumph entitles D Gukesh with a clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China later in the year.

The Chennai-based teen went past Kasparov’s record by quite a distance as the Russian legend was 22 when he qualified for the world title match in 1984 to with compatriot Anatoly Karpov.

“So relieved and so happy. I was following this crazy game (between Fabio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi), and then I went for a walk with my second (Gregorz Gazevsky), I think that helped,” Gukesh said after winning.

The Candidates Chess win comes with it a huge cash prize of 88,500 Euros (approx Rs 78.5 lakh). The total prize fund of the Candidates was 5,00,000 Euros.

Gukesh is only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament. Five-time world champion Anand’s triumph came in 2014.

“Congratulations to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger. The @WacaChess family is so proud of what you have done . I’m personally very proud of how you played and handled tough situations. Enjoy the moment,” Anand posted on ‘X’.

Needing at least a draw to keep him in contention for the title, Gukesh gave nothing away against Nakamura, a clear signal that the teenager is ready for the big stage.

The black pieces did not matter much as Nakamura was at sea in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and did not find any ways to pursue playing for an advantage.

Gukesh won a pawn and Nakamura had to find the path to equality in the ensuing rook and opposite coloured Bishops endgame. The game lasted till move 71 but the result was never in doubt.

With Gukesh’s contest ending in a draw, taking him to nine points, all eyes were on the match between Caruana and Nepomniachtchi.

The American Caruana outplayed Nepomniachtchi right from the opening and enjoyed a nearly winning position for several moves.

However, the clock did the talking here as Caruana blundered on 39th move to allow a playable position.

Things were far from over though, Caruana built his position all over again and was close to winning a second time when again his clock deceived him and he failed to find the correct continuation.

The resulting position was a drawn queen and pawns endgame where Caruana kept pressing to no avail.

Had any of these two players won, the tournament would have needed a tie-break as Gukesh and the winner would have ended up in joint-lead.

Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura all ended on 8.5 points for the shared second place while India’s R Praggnanandhaa ended fifth on seven points defeating Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan.

Vidit Gujrathi played out a quick draw with Firouzja Alireza of France in the final round to end on the sixth spot with six points in all.

Alireza finished seventh on five points while Abasov ended last on 3.5 points in all.

Gukesh has been making waves for a while now after becoming the third youngest in chess history to earn the Grandmaster title at the age of 12.

Last year, he won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Results final round:

Hikaru Nakamura (8.5) drew with D Gukesh (9); Fabiano Caruana (8.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (8.5); Nijat Abasov (3.5) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (7); Firouza Alireza (5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (6).

FIDE Candidates Tournament Standings (after 14 rounds)