Gukesh D's win over Misratdin Iskandarov in a second-round match of the World Cup witnessed him create history in the Indian chess circuit. When the sport's global body FIDE publishes its monthly rating, Gukesh will become the highest-ranked Indian chess player. For the first time in a published rating in 36 years, it would not be Legendary Viswanathan Anand as the number 1 Indian in the ranking as his crown now goes to his protege Gukesh.
Gukesh replaced Anand as the World No.9 in live rankings while the five-time World champion slipped to 10th. Viswanathan Anand has been the mentor of the young prodigy through the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy. But it could not be a more proud moment for a mentor other than to see his protege scaling the heights of success in any field. The same emotion was on display on social media when India's first Grandmaster Anand congratulated Gukesh via a Twitter post. "Absolutely Proud! We started off with one GM , one World Champion and now we have two top ten players. Congratulations to the generation of Indian talent especially to our new No.1 Gukesh D!" Anand praised the young star. But who is this star, who is making all the headlines?
Who is Gukesh D? All you need to know
Dommaraju Gukesh, popularly known as Gukesh D hails from the same city Chennai from where Anand comes from. His father is an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist and his mother is a microbiologist by profession. Born on 7th May 2006, Gukesh learned to play chess at the age of seven. He was supported by his first coach Mr. Bhaskar in his school days who helped him become a FIDE-rated player in just six months. He was then under the guidance of Vijayanand, who took his coach role. In the 2015 Asian School Chess Championships, Gukesh won an under-nine section and became the Candidate Master.
It was just a small piece falling in place for the teenager as he later went on to win five Gold Asian Youth Chess Championships in 2018. Gukesh then earned the International Master title in 2018 at 11 years, nine months and nine days. In December 2019, Gukesh then went on to create a history of becoming India's youngest and second-youngest Grandmaster in the world, falling just 17 days short of GM Sergey Karjakin. Currently, he is the third-youngest GM in the world as New Jersey player Abhimanyu Mishra has leapfrogged Karjakin.
More success came to the teenager's life in October 2022 when he became the youngest ever to defeat five-time champion, Magnus Carlsen. He celebrated his 17th Birthday in style, defeating Carlsen in a rated game for the first time in 2023. He is India's 60th Grandmaster and looks to keep going.
