Gukesh Dommaraju became, at 17, the youngest ever Candidates winner and world championship challenger on Sunday after edging out the favourites Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi in a marathon six-hour final round in Toronto.
Gukesh will now meet the holder, China’s Ding Liren, in a 14-game series for the world crown from 20 November to 15 December. The world No 1, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, abdicated his title in 2023 after a 10-year reign.
The Chennai teenager started the 14th and final round half a point ahead of his three rivals, and had the better of a draw with Nakamura, the USA’s world No 3. Caruana, the USA’s world No 2, had the chance to force a tie and a speed playoff, but failed to convert his winning position against Russia’s Nepomniachtchi. Their game lasted 109 moves and six hours before Caruana abandoned his attempts to make progress in what was by then a dead drawn ending.
The American and the Russian have fought for the crown for the best part of a decade, and their mutual disappointment brought out a camaraderie between them, as shown in a video of the final moments of their game. “Really sorry,” says Nepomniachtchi. “My fault,” replies Caruana.
Final leading scores were Gukesh 9/14, Caruana, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi all 8.5, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India) 7.
Gukesh’s victory is a historic achievement. Until now, teenagers have had an indifferent record in the Candidates. Only Bobby Fischer in 1959 and Carlsen in 2006, both then 16, have been younger than Gukesh, and both were also-rans.
Garry Kasparov, who was the previous youngest Candidates winner at 20, called the result “an Indian earthquake in Toronto” and added “the children of Vishy Anand are on the loose” in a reference to India’s previous world champion, who mentored Gukesh and is his chess hero.
Gukesh’s career has been marked by a consistent rapid advance since 2019, when he became a grandmaster at 12 years seven months, the third youngest in history after Abhimanyu Mishra of the US and Sergey Karjakin of Russia. It was then that his family decided to support him as a professional player, despite the financial risks involved. Later, he was the youngest ever to achieve a 2750 rating, and he won the individual top board gold medal at the 2022 Olympiad. He qualified for the Candidates by finishing top of the Fide Circuit, a league table of major tournaments.
A secret of his success has been his calmness and equanimity under pressure. Away from the board, he likes to play outdoor sports, with tennis his favourite. He regularly practices yoga, which helps his stamina. He remarked that, despite his lack of experience, his youth was a strength for such a long tournament: “It’s easier to be focused at my age.”
Gukesh’s only loss at Toronto was to Alireza Firouzja in round six, when he collapsed in time pressure and his despair was captured on video. Yet from that moment his self-belief in winning the tournament grew: “I was upset, but during the rest day I felt so good that the loss gave me motivation.”
His second, the Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski, who worked with Anand for many years, said: “Anand is the brilliant one, who sees it first, but Gukesh is the calm one, who managed to keep his composure even in the most stressful moments. Apart from being a brilliant player, this is the main thing that decided the tournament.”
There was only half a point in it at the finish. Gukesh drew all six games against his principal rivals, but, critically, won with both colours against the outclassed tailender, Nijat Abasov, who dealt Nepomniachtchi’s chances a blow by drawing twice. Nakamura’s nemesis was Vidit Gujrathi, who twice crushingly defeated the popular streamer.
The 36-year-old brushed it all off two days later, when he scored a clean sweep of this week’s Titled Tuesday, opening with 1 h4 in several games. He has now won the event 71 times.
Many would argue that the World Cup, a 150-player knockout qualifying three Candidates, and the Grand Swiss, with over 100 players and qualifying two, are over-represented and should have fewer places, and that the Fide Circuit, which rewards the winners of high-class tournaments, should have more than one. Gukesh qualified from the Circuit and Caruana would have done so had he not already secured a place by another route.
The coming Ding v Gukesh match for the world crown, which will take place from 20 November to 15 December, will be the first all-Asian title match. Ding’s indifferent form in recent months means that the challenger will start favourite to break Kasparov’s record as the youngest world champion by four years, but there is a caveat.
In an interview, Ding praised his rival: “He has a maturity that doesn’t match his age, and he has his own unique understanding of the position … He is a difficult opponent to face.” But he added: “I have the advantage in classical chess.”
Ding is referring to their only two head-to-head classical games, at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in 2023 and 2024, where in both cases the Chinese player trounced his opponent with the black pieces.
Months before his world title challenge, the Candidates winner has another important date – from 8 to 12 May at the Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz in Warsaw, Poland, where the 10-player field includes both Gukesh and Carlsen.
China’s Tan Zhongyi won the women’s Candidates, and will now meet her compatriot Ju Wenjun for the world title. Leaders were Tan 9/14, Lei Tingjie (China), Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu (both India) all 7.5.
Tan, 32, and born on 29 May, the same day of the year as Gukesh, was a highly convincing winner who led from start to finish and lost only once. She revealed afterwards that she did not expect to win, as competitive chess is no longer her main priority. Instead, she has her own club and coaches talented students.
Her past achievements already include a world championship, which she won in 2017, when the event was staged as a knockout. In 2018 she lost a title match 4.5-5.5 to Ju, who has held the crown ever since, and will be the favourite in their rematch due to her good performance at Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. Tan’s best win at Toronto featured a classic king’s side attack.
The other eyecatching result in the women’s Candidates was by Vaishali Rameshbabu, sister of Praggnanandhaa, who was fifth in the open event. Vaishali lost four games in a row between rounds six to nine, then mounted an astonishing comeback by winning all her last five games. At 22, she has chances to reach the top of women’s chess, so that a brother and sister as world champions is not an impossible dream. A knight sacrifice at f7 launched a winning attack for Vaishali from a fashionable variation of the Petroff.
3917: 1 Rxc8+ Bxc8 (if Qxc8? 2 Rxh7) 2 f7+! Resigns. If Qxf7 (Kxf7? 3 Rxh7+ or Rxf7? 3 Rh8+ Rf8 4 Rxf8 mate) 3 Qc2! with the winning double threat of 4 Qc8 mate or 4 Q or Rxh7.
• This article was amended on 26 April 2024 to add the missing white bishop to the diagram.
