Young Indian chess phenom pips three legends to the post, wins Candidates Tournament to challenge for world championship title

A fireworks-filled Candidates Tournament ended with a dramatic conclusion as four players were still in the running for the world championship challenger designation heading into the final round of play.

Two hard-fought draws meant no one could stop 17-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju from fulfilling his chess destiny and setting up a scintillating clash with Ding Liren later in the year, potentially marking a great generational shift in the chess world.

Gukesh, the 2006-born Indian grandmaster most commonly referred to by his first name, became the ultimate winner of the 2024 Candidates Tournament, which went down to the wire. The young phenom had to hold down the fort with the Black pieces against Hikaru Nakamura himself while hoping that the brawl between Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi would end in a draw—which is exactly what happened in the final round of play.

While Caruana had excellent chances to win against Nepomniachtchi, a combination of time trouble and exhaustion meant he ultimately squandered a +4 position, stumbling into a draw. Both players had a chance to clinch a tiebreaker with a victory and ended up snuffing out the light for each other—and in their post-match analysis, they could be heard saying “I am very sorry” to each other.

Meanwhile, Gukesh did an excellent job neutralizing Nakamura’s assault, once again showcasing maturity beyond his years to secure a legendary victory and a chance to become the youngest world champion in chess history.

Statistical analysts before the tournament gave Gukesh an approximately eight percent chance to win the competition, coming in as the sixth-highest-rated grandmaster in the eight-player field. He confounded expectations with a string of excellent performances, mounting a great comeback in the final three rounds when he was down a full point from previous two-time winner Nepomniachtchi.

The wider chess world was first alerted to Gukesh at the 2022 Chess Olympiad, where he helped the Indian team reach a third-place finish with a series of notable victories. He was on track to complete a perfect run, winning his first eight games in a row in incredible fashion, ultimately finishing the event on 9/11 and a tournament performance of 2867—over 35 points higher than Magnus Carlsen’s current live Elo.

Having become the youngest challenger for the title in world chess championship history is already quite the feat, but his opponent’s recent struggles mean he also has an excellent chance to go even further.

Ding Liren, who has been having an extremely hard time competitively ever since he clinched the title, had this to say when he was asked about his challenger: “He has a maturity that doesn’t match his age, he has his own unique understanding of the position, and although I have the advantage in classical chess, he is a difficult opponent to face.”

With a new face and a new generation emerging at the peak of the chess world and fans from the two largest nations on Earth about to follow the upcoming world championship match, we’re entering an exciting new period for the royal game. Nakamura, Caruana, and Nepo will have to try again in two years’ time—but the clocks keep ticking on.