Gukesh Dommaraju

Birth and background

Gukesh was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family from Andhra Pradesh.^[4][5][6] His mother, Padmakumari, is a microbiologist, and his father, Rajinikanth, is an ENT surgeon who moved to Chennai to pursue his medical career.^[7][8] Gukesh studied at the Velammal Vidyalaya School in Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai.^[9]

Gukesh's family hails from the village of Chenchuraju Kandriga, near Satyavedu in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh.^[4][5][6] His grandfather Shankar Raju was born and raised in Chenchuraju Kandriga and worked in the Indian Railways. His son Rajinikanth, later settled in Chennai to pursue a medical career and married Padmakumari there.^[5][4] The family owns properties in Chenchuraju Kandriga, where Shankar Raju currently lives.^[4][10]

Chess beginnings

Gukesh learned to play chess in 2013, at the age of seven, and eventually began structured one-hour sessions three times a week.^[11] He dropped out of school after Class IV, that is, in elementary school, to focus on his chess career. In 2017, his father quit his job to travel with Gukesh to various tournaments; Gukesh was sponsored by his parents' friends at this time,^[12] support about which he has often spoken since.^[13] His extraordinary talent was recognized institutionally early on, and he became one of the many beneficiaries of the robust Indian chess ecosystem.^[14]

Beginnings (2015–2019)

Gukesh won the under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015.^[15] He won the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018 in the under-12 category.^[16] In the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championship, he won a record five gold medals in the under-12 events in individual rapid, blitz and classical formats, and the team rapid and blitz competitions.^[17] He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.^[18]

On 15 January 2019, Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, behind Sergey Karjakin.^[19][20][a] In June 2021, he won the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, Gelfand Challenge, scoring 14 out of 19 points.^[22]

Olympiad gold and Candidates qualification (2022–2023)

In August 2022, Gukesh won the individual gold medal on the first board in the open event at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai with a score of 9 out of 11. He was part of the India-2 team which won the bronze medal in the same tournament.^[23][24] In September 2022, he was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men's team competition.^[25] In the same month, Gukesh reached a FIDE rating of over 2700 for the first time with a rating of 2726, and became the third-youngest to do so after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja.^[26][27] During the Aimchess Rapid tournament in October 2022, Gukesh became the youngest to beat Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Chess Champion at that time.^[28][29]

In August 2023, Gukesh became the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2750, breaking Carlsen's record.^[30] In the Chess World Cup 2023 at Baku, he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Carlsen.^[31] In the September 2023 rating list, Gukesh surpassed Viswanathan Anand as the top-ranked Indian player, marking the first time in 37 years that Anand was not the top-ranked Indian player.^[1][2]

In December 2023, Gukesh qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament, to be conducted to identify the challenger to Ding Liren for the World Chess Championship.^[32] He finished second in the FIDE Circuit behind Fabiano Caruana, and took the qualifying spot reserved for the winner, as Caruana had already qualified through the Chess World Cup.^[33] He was the third-youngest player to qualify for a Candidates tournament, behind Bobby Fischer and Carlsen.^[34][35]

Olympiad double gold and World Championship (2024–present)

In January 2024, Gukesh finished in a four-way tie for the first place in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 with a score of 8½ in 13 rounds. He defeated Anish Giri in the semifinals before losing to Wei Yi in the finals of the tiebreaker.^[36]

In April 2024, Gukesh was part of the eight-player Candidates Tournament held in Toronto. He won five games against R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi playing as Black, Firouzja playing as White, and Nijat Abasov playing as both Black and White. With a single loss coming against Firouzja, he finished with nine points from 14 rounds to win the tournament.^[37][38] He was the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates tournament.^[39][40][41]

In September 2024, Gukesh took part in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest as part of the Indian team. He did not lose a single match and won the individual gold medal with a score of nine across ten rounds. His performance on board one helped India to win their first-ever team gold medal at the Olympiad.^[42] As a result of the win, Gukesh entered the top-five in the FIDE rankings for the first time on 1 October 2024.^[43][44]

The 2024 World Chess Championship was held in November–December 2024 between Gukesh and Ding Liren. Gukesh scored three wins against two wins for Ding, and nine draws in the 14 classical rounds of the tournament. He won the 14th and final match on 12 December 2024, and as a result, the World Chess Championship by a scoreline of 7½–6½.^[45][46] The win made him the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion,^[b] breaking the record previously held by Garry Kasparov.^[47][48] FIDE commented on Gukesh's gameplay as having "near-perfect accuracy", and Ding reacted that it was his best tournament of the year, and that he had no regrets in losing the title to Gukesh.^[49]