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India’s D. Gukesh was not the popular choice to win the title at the FIDE Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto last weekend.
The 17-year-old, who had become a Grandmaster five years ago, was given no chance by many experts in the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship.
Former world champion Magnus Carlsen said before the start of the tournament about the Chennai native who was making his first appearance at the Candidates: “I cannot imagine him winning the Candidates. I think he will certainly win at least a couple of games, but will have some fairly bad losses as well. I don’t think he will do poorly, but I don’t think he will do too well either.
“He’s not quite ready yet to make the leap. It’s more likely that he will have a bad event.”
Two weeks later, Gukesh became the youngest Candidates champion and will take on reigning champion Ding Liren of China for the world title in November.
Carlsen, who opted out of the tournament, had picked two-time World Championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi, World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana and World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura as the favourites. The trio finished half a point behind Gukesh.
“Gukesh is probably a bit stronger than myself and others I realised,” said Carlsen on Monday. “The thing about Gukesh is that he can look really vulnerable at times. He’s also not very good at speed chess – that can confuse (people’s assessment about him). And he’s not as high-profile as some of the other youngsters, which is confusing. But he’s proven in this tournament that he’s very strong.”
Gukesh told India Today that Carlsen’s words didn’t faze him. He said he was confident about his winning ability despite having qualified for the Candidates last among the three Indian contenders – the other two being R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi.
“I actually came to know about that (Carlsen’s comments) a couple of days before the Candidates (started),” Gukesh said on Monday.
“Honestly, I didn’t care much about it. I think he gave an honest opinion. Obviously, I was not the favourite there. There were far more experienced players.
“Deep down, I knew that if I was in my best shape, and if I managed to stay calm and focused, I could win the tournament.”
Gukesh’s only loss came against French Firouza Alireza in the seventh round. He said it was that “painful” defeat which gave him the extra motivation for the remainder of the tournament.
“It was a very painful loss. But after that, I had a rest day. When I woke up, I felt at my absolute best shape, full of energy,” said Gukesh.
Gukesh, ranked 16th in the world by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), sealed his title after a comfortable draw with Nakamura, a five-time US chess champion who is more than twice his age.
The Indian became the youngest player ever to challenge for a world chess title.
“I was completely emotional, but after the game I’m feeling quite good,” Gukesh said. “I don’t really care about being the youngest and all these records, but it’s a nice thing to say.”
Should Gukesh beat Ding, who has struggled with poor form recently, at the 2024 World Chess Championship later this year, he will break Garry Kasparov’s long-held record of being the youngest world champion aged 22.
“I don’t really care about being the youngest and all these records, but it’s a nice thing to say.”
