CHENNAI: Some of chess’ greatest names have called the coming age ‘the era of Indian chess’. The Polgars, Judit and Susan. Former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. Former Candidate winner, Boris Gelfand, and the only two-time winner of the World Cup, Levon Aronian... they have all heaped praise on the next generation of Indian kids.
They were all proved right in the early hours of Monday as D Gukesh, all of 17, completed a logic-defying, history-being-rewritten three weeks in Toronto as he became the youngest ever winner of the Candidates tournament, an elite eight-player field that identifies the next challenger of the World Championships (Gukesh will face Ding Liren later in the year for a shot at immortality). The Chennai boy became only the second Indian after Anand to win the event.
In the 14th and final round inside the city’s Great Hall, Gukesh, sole leader by 0.5 points, drew against Hikaru Nakamura after 71 moves. Nakamura, one of the pre-Candidates favourites, needed a win to stay in contention. With white, he gave it his all but never got change on a day when Gukesh stayed rock solid till the very end.
While that draw put Gukesh on the brink of victory, there was another match going on on the table next to theirs. It featured Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, two players who had been joint second coming into the final round. Both players needed a win while hoping the Indian didn’t win. They got the first wish but the win just wouldn’t come for either of them. Both of them kept at it gamely and agreed to draw after a marathon 109 moves and six hours of match play.
It feels remarkable that if it wasn’t for an elite-level tournament arranged in short notice, Gukesh wouldn’t have qualified. The Tamil Nadu government played a helping hand in bringing the event to Chennai.
This Candidates title completes a remarkable turnaround for the GM D Gukesh. From August, he had been on a downward spiral. Post a loss to Carlsen at the World Cup, he had felt out of it. “I wasn’t in a good mental space,” he had said. Now, he must be in the good mental space.
Don’t be crazy: Carlsen’s advice
In February, at an event in Germany, Gukesh had turned to Carlsen for some Candidates based insight. The Norwegian recounted this story during live commentary on chess24’s stream on Sunday. “Gukesh had asked me in Germany what he should do in the Candidates. I told him I didn’t have any good advice... I only told him that he shouldn’t go crazy, and just look for chances because other players will go crazy.” The other players tried. Gukesh triumphed.