17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh scripted history, becoming the youngest man to win the prestigious Candidates tournament. The triumph entitles Gukesh a clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China in the last quarter of the year.
Gukesh accumulated nine out of a possible 14 points here after drawing his final-round game against American Hikaru Nakamura. He became only the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to win the Candidates.
Needing at least a draw, Gukesh 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.
The black pieces did not matter much as Nakamura was at sea in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and did not find any way to pursue playing for an advantage.
Gukesh won a pawn and Nakamura had to find the path to equality in the ensuing rook and opposite coloured Bishops endgame. The game lasted till move 71 but the result was never in doubt.
With Gukesh ending on 9 points, all eyes were on the match between American Caruana and Russia’s Nepomniachtchi.
Gukesh will have the opportunity to become the youngest world champion when he challenges Ding Liren later this year. Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov were 22 when they became the world champions.
The American outplayed Nepomniachtchi right from the opening and enjoyed a nearly winning position for several moves.
However, the clock did the talking here as Caruana blundered on the 39th move to allow a playable position. Things were far from over though, Caruana built his position all over again and was close to winning a second time when again his clock deceived him and he failed to find the correct continuation.
The resulting position was a drawn queen and pawns endgame where Caruana kept pressing to no avail. 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 Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan.
‘So Relieved, So Happy’
Gukesh bettered Kasparov’s record by quite a distance as the Russian great was 22 when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov. Gukesh also won a cash award of 88,500 Euros (approx Rs 78.5 lakh). The total prize fund of the Candidates was 5,00,000 Euros.
“So relieved and so happy. I was following this crazy game (between Fabio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi), and then I went for a walk with my second (Gregorz Gazevsky), I think that helped,” Gukesh said after winning.
Chance to Be the Youngest World Champion
Gukesh will have the opportunity to become the youngest world champion when he challenges Ding Liren later this year. Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov were 22 when they became the world champions.
(With Agency Inputs)
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