Indian grandmaster Gukesh won the Candidates tournament in Toronto on the night of Sunday to Monday, and is only one step away from becoming the youngest king in the history of chess.
Thanks to his masterful draw against the American Hikaru Nakamura and that between the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi and the American Fabiano Caruana, the Indian player, 16e world player in the last ranking, finished alone in first place after the 14 games.
The final round between the four leading players, all of whom could still claim victory, was breathtaking, but Caruana failed to convert an advantageous position against his opponent.
“I am so relieved and happy. It was a lot of emotion during the games, but now I just feel good,” he commented at a press conference. “I can’t wait to be able to talk to my mother,” who did not travel to Canada unlike her father.
At 17, Gukesh therefore wins the right to face the Chinese Ding Liren, current holder of the world crown, in a match which should take place later in the year but at a date and place to be defined. He is also the youngest player to win the Candidates tournament.
“I don’t care about these records,” he said with a smile after the game.
In the event of victory, a credible hypothesis because the Chinese seems out of shape since his coronation in April 2023, he would erase from the shelves the Russian Garry Kasparov, world champion for the first time at the age of 22 in the most prestigious format of chess.
It would put India back at the top of chess more than 10 years after the end of Viswanathan Anand’s reign (2008-2013).
A defeat in 14 games
Dommaraju Gukesh, “Gukesh D” in the world of chess, was born on May 29, 2006 and, a month before his 18th birthday, was already the youngest in the tournament bringing together eight of the best players in the world.
He took sole control thanks to his fifth victory of the competition on the penultimate day against the Franco-Iranian Alireza Firouzja, 20 years old.
Firouzja was the only one to have beaten him during the tournament, in the first leg, but without shaking him. “It was after this game that I said to myself that this could be my moment. I was disappointed, but the next day I already felt at my best,” explained Gukesh.
The Indian player continues his meteoric rise, having obtained his grandmaster standard, the highest distinction in chess, at just 12 years old, in 2019 and his first international standard in 2015.
He could appear at number 6e place in the next world ranking, 1er May, his best rank, one place ahead of Ding Liren, according to provisional estimates.
Number 1 Magnus Carlsen left the field, tired of the classic games in which he was five times world champion from 2013 to his resignation in 2023.