Gukesh, The Youngest to Win the Candidates Ever in History!
Introduction
In just 14 rounds and three weeks, a 17-year-old named GM Gukesh Dommaraju became the champion of the 2024 FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament. This makes him the youngest player ever to win this tournament! Now, he's getting ready to face GM Ding Liren for the world championship title later this year.
During a long, intense game that lasted almost six hours, GM Fabiano Caruana couldn't secure a victory against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, leading to an extension of the tournament for tiebreaks. Despite this, Gukesh's draw against GM Hikaru Nakamura was sufficient for him to move forward in the competition.
While in the Women's Candidates, Tan Zhongyi, a former Women's World Champion, emerged victorious in the 2024 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament with a 1.5-point lead after dominating the competition from start to finish. Despite gaining an upper hand against GM Anna Muzychuk, a draw was sufficient to clinch the tournament title. She is set to face GM Ju Wenjun in the upcoming FIDE Women's World Championship in 2025, setting the stage for a rematch of their 2018 showdown where Tan was defeated.
Standings - Open
Standings - Women's
Gukesh, The One to Make History
In April, Gukesh broke many records with his big win. At just 17, he's the youngest to win the Candidates Tournament by more than three years. He's set to compete in the first world championship without any European players, making it the first all-Asian world championship (excluding the women's championship).
He is the best chess player in India based on his rating, and now he has a higher rating than the current world champion by one point. The world champion is ranked seventh in the world. To be honest, he got a performance rating of 2847! India must be proud of him at this point, especially since he proved Magnus Carlsen's "Not Going to Do Well" prediction.
The world championship match has not been set yet, but we expect it to happen later this year. If Gukesh emerges victorious, he will be the youngest world chess champion ever.
Gukesh's Journey to Success
Gukesh Dommaraju, an Indian chess player, is a really talented player. He became a grandmaster at a very young age, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history. In 2024, he won the FIDE Candidates Tournament and earned the chance to challenge for the World Championship. If he wins against GM Ding Liren, he will become the youngest world champion ever.
Gukesh is a very talented chess player from India. He became a Grandmaster when he was just 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days old. He missed breaking GM Sergey Karjakin's record by only 17 days. In July 2022, he reached a live rating of 2700, making him the fourth-youngest player to achieve this. By September 2023, he was ranked eighth in the world and became the top-rated player in India, finishing GM Viswanathan Anand's 37-year reign.
Gukesh started playing chess when he was seven years old, which is considered a bit late compared to other chess prodigies. For instance, famous chess players like GMs Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen learned to play when they were only five years old. Some kids even start learning chess at an even younger age. (Fun Fact: I started playing chess when I was 7 as well!)
Soon later, as of what I remember, in an interview when he was of age 12, he was asked what his dream was. He answered that it was his dream to become the youngest World Chess Champion. Let us watch him fulfill his dream!
And a few years later, the child grew up and is now a young man who will see himself again, in the same diner.
Yesterday, he was asked what it would feel like to win the candidates. Let us watch him answer!
During the press conference, Gukesh was questioned about when he thought he could win. He replied that after losing to Firouzja in the seventh round, he felt it could be his moment because the defeat motivated him to do his best.
Here in this picture, he is with his second Gajewski. He is set to be the next Challenger, by far the youngest.
Chaotic Games
Nakamura-Gukesh's game was significant, yet not the most chaotic. He mentioned to Klein that he focused on doing his job well, playing a good game, and waiting to see the outcome. In the end, a draw secured his tournament win, but he was ready for tiebreaks if Caruana or Nepomniachtchi emerged victorious. Which means; he was ready for anything! Amazing mind flow! Worth mentioning that even GM Robert Hess said he was not even for a second worse.
GM Robert Hess praised Gukesh's performance in the game, stating that he did not falter for even a moment. Nakamura's move of 7.a3 in response to the Queen's Gambit Accepted was unexpected, but Gukesh was prepared to handle it. Nakamura himself admitted that it was a minor mistake. Here you can analyze the game
In his video recap, Nakamura mentioned that Gukesh made a great move with ...b4! on move 11. He also mentioned that after that move, he didn't have any chances to win the game.
Nakamura, in a must-win situation, gave up a pawn to create some chances, but eventually, only Gukesh had the advantage. The pivotal point came when Nakamura proposed a queen exchange with 24.Qb5 and Gukesh had the option to keep the queens on the board to push for a victory.
However, Gukesh decided to trade queens, leading to Nakamura holding the pawn-deficient endgame after a prolonged battle with numerous moves.
The game ended when only the Kings faced each other, and the dust settled.
Here is Nakamura's recap so you can hear his thoughts on the game.
Now in for the actual game twister; Fabiano-Nepo's game!
The Caruana-Nepomniachtchi match was crucial for both players, a unique occurrence in chess. Because they both have 8-8 points each, if they drew, they would both be out of the running for first place because after the game of Gukesh and Hikaru, Gukesh resulted with 9, which is the most important position in this competition, and that's precisely what occurred.
Nepomniachtchi made a bold move in the Queen's Gambit Declined Ragozin Variation by pushing his pawns on the kingside with 6...h6 and 7...g5. This allowed him to control more space on the board, but it also created some vulnerabilities. Although his opening strategy seemed promising, it didn't work out well for him in the end.
Nepomniachtchi's time management during the game wasn't great. He made two quick moves without thinking much. Nepomniachtchi admitted that he got confused and made mistakes because he wasn't familiar with the opening he played. Meanwhile, Caruana began to play better than his opponent.
The American GM was in a good position to win but had to make more moves quickly to get extra time. However, a wrong move allowed the opponent to take advantage and the win slipped away. The game became very complicated with mistakes from both sides, making it hard to secure a victory Caruana had difficult chances to win, but the pressure was too much to handle. The game finally ended after many moves, with Caruana using up all his remaining chances to win.
Both players were disappointed with the outcome of the game, but it was particularly sad for Caruana. He began the press conference by saying, "I feel really stupid." Later, he said, "It was a terrible game at a unlucky time." Even Nepomniachtchi admitted, "I don't know what to say. Fabiano had some bad luck."
Gukesh, 17 age, has no limits when it comes to reaching for the sky, with his eyes set on the upcoming world championship match.
- By the way here's a fun fact: Both Gukesh D (Winner of Open Candidates) and Tan Zhongyi (Winner of Women's Candidates) were born on May 29! Secret to success? Be born on May 29!
Conclusion
From each player fighting for a spot, we have so much to learn from it. Each one played great, showed hard work and dedication. Throughout the event, the players showcased their performance through the games.
And in the end, the winner emerged out of the blue. Let us cheer for them and all the players who competed with good sportsmanship!
Happy chess playing : )
