 "Indian GM D Gukesh became the youngest challenger for the World Chess Championship after winning the Candidates Tournament in April at the age of 17. PTI")
Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand said he was pleasantly surprised by D Gukesh’s meteoric rise at such a young age, the latter challenging for the world championship while still a teenager. Anand is the lone chess world champion from India, having won the title-deciding match six times in two separate reigns and could be joined later this month by Gukesh, who will be aiming to unseat China’s Ding Liren from the throne at just 18 years of age.
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“I did not assign a very high probability to him getting there so early. He’s the youngest ever challenger in World Championship match history. And if that doesn’t surprise me, nothing will,” Anand told ESPN.
Gukesh had earned the right to challenge Liren for the world title after winning the Candidates Tournament earlier this year, winning the event at just 17 years of age to become its youngest winner of all time. The Chennai resident would go on to star in India’s historic campaign in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary, in which the nation completed a rare golden sweep by winning both the ‘Open’ as well as the ‘Women’ sections.
Anand also hailed Gukesh for showing strength and composure to pounce on the opportunities that came his way earlier this year, including in the victorious Candidates campaign.
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More Shorts“There is an element of luck as well, though this is not luck in the sense of people got lucky. I would say this is more when the opportunity unexpectedly arose, he had the composure and more importantly the chess strength to pounce on it.
“He had the strength, the presence of mind and the composure to grab his chance when it appeared, which is all you can really do in the candidates. And now he has the opportunity at the World Championship, the biggest stage,” Anand added.
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While Liren’s form in recent tournaments has been patchy, Gukesh too suffered his first defeat in the Classical format in 38 games during the European Club Cup that concluded last week. Anand added that while it was a good thing for Gukesh to enter the world championship showdown full of confidence, he faces quite the challenge on the road ahead.
“It’s good that Gukesh can approach the match with confidence. But he’s smart enough to know that World Championships are won, not elected.”