Gukesh books spot on Champions Chess Tour

Just after receiving an invitation to next month’s FIDE World Cup in Sochi, Indian junior star GM Gukesh D now has his warm-up plans booked: polishing up his skills with World Champion Magnus Carlsen and the globe’s best GMs in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The second-youngest GM in history punched his ticket to the June 26 super event by winning the Gelfand Challenge with a 14/19 score, first beating rival GM Praggnanandhaa in a dramatic Round 17 game, then catching him at the finish line with a clutch 4/4 performance to closGukesh played the second tournament of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour with strategic perfection, turning in his winning streak at the very end of a race where it proved dangerous to be in front. In fact, the Indian 15-year-old opened the event in the middle of the pack, playing the first six rounds to a 50-percent score, including losses to contenders American IM Christopher Yoo and German GM Vincent Keymer.

But after the slow start, Gukesh quietly put together a decisive second half, scoring 11 wins and scattering just two respectable losses to Russian GM Volodar Murzin and compatriot GM Nihal Sarin, who finished fourth and fifth respectively. 

Gukesh finished the event on five straight wins, none bigger than the 17th round victory over then-leader Pragg that became the first-place tiebreaker at the end of the day. Trailing Pragg by 1.5 points in third place, Gukesh was in a must-win situation and blitzed into the Vienna variation of the Queen’s Gambit.