D Gukesh is all set to take Indian chess by storm when he locks horns against China’s Ding Liren in the 2024 World Chess Championship to be held in Singapore from November 25 to December 13. If Gukesh beats the Chinese in the best-of-14 encounter, he will become India’s second world champion, following in the footsteps of the great Viswanathan Anand.

Gukesh qualified for the World Chess Championship by winning the Candidates tournament earlier this year. Excitement is building towards the match, but who exactly is D Gukesh?

Everything you need to know about D Gukesh

Gukesh Dommaraju was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai. Chennai is home to many prominent Indian athletes, including Anand. Gukesh was introduced to chess at school when he was only seven years old. That’s when Gukesh developed a keen interest in chess, and over the next 10 years he made a significant improvement in his FIDE rating. Gukesh clinched the title in the Under-9 category at the Asian School Chess Championship in 2015, and this victory helped him claim the title of FIDE Master. It took only three more years for Gukesh, who was 11 years old in March 2018, to become an International Master.

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The following year, on January 15, 2019, Gukesh won the Grandmaster title at the 17th Delhi International Grandmaster Open. He achieved this at the age of 12 years, seven months and 17 days, thus becoming the second youngest player to achieve this during this period. Russian Sergey Karjakin is the youngest person to clinch the title of Grandmaster at the age of 12 years and 7 months.

Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna was Gukesh’s coach at the time and was impressed by Gukesh’s “strategic edge and unique understanding” and also noted his unparalleled work ethic. Gukesh participated in 30 tournaments and played 276 matches, traveling to 13 countries to earn the title of Grandmaster.
Gukesh was fascinated by different chess formats including classical, blitz, rapid and team competitions.

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He won the Under-12 World Junior Chess Championship and also won five gold medals at the Asian Junior Chess Championship. Gukesh created a sensation in the Indian chess scene by winning the gold medal in the individual category at the 2022 Chess Olympiad.

He scored nine points in 11 matches and led India to the bronze medal in the competition. He also reached a 2700 ELO rating in 2022, becoming the third youngest player to achieve this after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja. Gukesh reached 2750 ELO points in August 2023. He became the youngest player to achieve this feat.

In September last year, Gukesh overtook Viswanathan Anand to become India’s highest-rated player, reaching World No.8. Anand was India’s best chess player for 37 years, but Gukesh surpassed Anand.

Gukesh qualified for the 2024 Candidates tournament after finishing second in the 2023 FIDE Circuit. The FIDE Circuit is where players participate in various tournaments throughout the year and is a qualification pathway for Candidates.

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Gukesh scored 9/14 at the Candidates tournament held in Toronto in April 2024, thus becoming the youngest player to challenge for the World Chess Championship title. Very recently in September 2024, Gukesh scored nine out of 10 points at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. He won the individual gold medal and led his team to a historic team gold medal.

In his childhood, Gukesh was someone whose mood quickly turned sour whenever he lost a match. Earlier this year, she revealed how much yoga and meditation had helped her. “I started taking mental health seriously. I started doing yoga and meditation. Once I started doing it, I made sure it was done regularly and it made a difference,” he was quoted as saying by British Chess Magazine in May.

D Gukesh and Ding Liren face off

D Gukesh and Ding Liren played five classic matches against each other. While Liren won two matches, the other three matches ended in a draw. This means Gukesh has not yet defeated Liren in the classic match. Gukesh beat Liren in the Fischer Random format earlier this year. However, this differs from the classic format that will be used at the World Championships.

Gukesh realized that there was a “universal” Ding ahead of the competition. “Ding is pretty universal. At this point, almost all players at the top level should be universal. So, there are slight differences between all the players and I try my best to analyze them and use them to my advantage,” the youngster said at a recent press conference.

But he wasn’t ready to make any predictions. “I don’t believe in predictions and who the favorites are. “I just think that the person who manages to show up at his best every day will eventually win the game,” he said.