Gukesh’s tactical brilliance stuns chess world

The Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov has rightly summed up the spectacular victory of Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh at FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament by christening it as ‘the Indian earthquake in Toronto’.

With this win, India’s 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh scripted history to become the youngest ever challenger to the world title, bettering a record created by the legendary Garry Kasparov 40 years ago and also became the second Indian to do so after the great five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand’s triumph in the prestigious tournament in 2014.

The Chennai-based teen bettered Kasparov’s record by quite a distance as the Russian great was 20 years, 11 months, 27 days when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov. Gukesh’s rise in the chess world was meteoric. At the age of 10, he became the youngest International Master (IM) in the history of Indian chess.

The teen 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 years, 7 months, 17 days with Abhimanyu Mishra, an American, being the youngest ever Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days after pipping Sergey Karjakin’s record of 12 years and 7 months.

Last year, he won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Adding another feather to his meteoric rise, he pipped his mentor Viswanathan Anand to become No. 1 Indian chess playerafter posting a win against Misratdin Iskandarov of Azerbaijan in the second game of their second-round match of the World Cup in Baku in August last year.At Candidates tournament, Gukesh played out an easy draw with American Hikaru Nakamura in the 14th and final round to finish with nine out of a possible 14 points in the tournament that is held to decide the challenger to the world champion.

With Gukesh ending on 9 points, all eyes were on the match between American Caruana and Russia’s Nepomniachtchi. 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 an identical 8.5 points for the shared second place while Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa ended fifth on seven points defeating NijatAbasov of Azerbaijan.

The triumph has entitledGukesh a faceoff with reigning world champion Ding Liren of China later this year as the dates and the venue are yet to be decided.As Monday’s Candidates win at Toronto by Gukesh turns into pages of history, the focus of chess enthusiasts now shifts to World Championship title.But,it’s certainly not so for the young Indian prodigy as his gamespeaks volumes of his pursuit for the summit clash. Needing at least a draw, the Chennai teen gave nothing away to Nakamura, a clear signal that the teenager is ready for the big stage and is going to be the next biggest star in the chess world. What makes Gukesh World Champion stuff and different from other competitors is his approach to the game. Victory is usually the biggest motivator for most sportspersons but not for this history-making Gukesh, he imbibed the “energy/motivation” to become the youngest Candidates chess champion from his seventh-round loss to Iran’s FirouzjaAlireza though he was upset and pained by the loss. His focus and complete obsession with the game, besides also trying to get better and always thinking much more than anybody about how to get even better stands out as his biggest defining quality.” Gukesh’s playing style characterised by a deep understanding of positional nuances coupled with tactical brilliance and ability to maneuver pieces harmoniously will help lead devastating attacks or subtle positional advantages. For the teen who began playing chess at seven years old, it was Anand’s World Championship clash against Magnus Carlsenin Chennai in 2013, which inspired him to take up the sport. With the dates and venue for the world championship yet to be finalised, Gukesh looks forward to all the preparation to take thing forward but all that after a break to cooling off from the pressures of the Candidates pursuit.