Gukesh: Rising star in chess, walking the path paved by Vishwanathan Anand

Seventeen-year-old Indian player D Gukesh has made history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament held in Toronto, Canada and becoming a challenger to face Ding Liren in the next world championship. Gukesh, the first Indian to become a challenger after India's proud player Viswanathan Anand, also holds the record of being the youngest challenger in world chess history. Beyond being a five-time world champion, the current young generation of Indian chess, including R Pragnananda and Gukesh, is the golden ray of Anand's effort to nurture his successors. Born and brought up in a Telugu family in Anand's hometown of Chennai, Gukesh started playing chess at the age of seven when Pragnananda won the World Under-8 Championship.

Sergey Karjakin was the only person to reach that rank at an even younger age, while this little boy reached the rank of Grandmaster at the age of twelve. In 2020, he joined Anand's West Bridge Academy in Chennai. Gukesh was also there, following after Pragnananda, who overthrew many including Magnus Carlsen. Gukesh, who won the gold medal at the World Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram in 2022 with eight consecutive victories, also made a leap in the FIDE rating. This time when Gukesh was selected among the candidates, many did not give him the chance to win the title, not because they underestimated the talent of this seventeen-year-old. The reason for not feeling much faith in the 'boy' was that there were experienced players like Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Pragnananda competing.

However, trusting his game and not succumbing to the temptations of his opponents, Gukesh surged ahead with successive wins and draws. Gukesh, who defeated Pragnananda in the second round, lost to Alireza Firouzja in the seventh round. Gukesh says that it is that moment when one gets tired but it filled him with confidence. Gukesh bounced back from the loss and put up a solid fight until the 12th round to take the joint lead on the points table with Nepomniachtchi. In the 13th round, Gukesh got revenge by defeating Firouzja and drew with Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura, giving him a solo lead.

In the last round match, Gukesh tied with Nakamura, while Nepomniachtchi and Caruana also tied. With this, Gukesh was elevated to the level of historical success.

The world fight between Ding Liren and Gukesh is expected to take place by the end of this year. The world is looking forward to seeing if the 17-year-old from India can break the record of world champion Garry Kasparov at the age of 22. It is not impossible for Gukesh as he walks the path blazed by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, holding his hand. May Gukesh's golden fingers make a move to the world chess title before he is old enough to cast his vote in the great nation of India.