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Gukesh D
This year's challenger to the Chinese World Chess Champion, Ding Liren, was the young Indian prodigy Dommaraju Gukesh (born in Chennai on May 29, 2006), more commonly known as Gukesh. His father, Rajnikanth, is an ear, nose, and throat physician, and his mother, Padma, is a microbiologist. At the age of seven, he learned to play chess. He achieved the title of Grandmaster in March 2019, making him the third youngest person in history to do so. Only Abhimanyu Mishra, an American of Indian descent, and Sergey Karjakin, originally from Ukraine but representing Russia, accomplished this feat earlier.
Gukesh holds another impressive record: on October 16, 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player ever to defeat a reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. This victory occurred during an online rapid game in the Aimchess Rapid Tournament.
Gukesh’s chess career has been nothing short of extraordinary. One of his early achievements was winning the 2015 Asian Schools Chess Championship in the under-9 category. Later, he became the under-12 World Youth Champion in 2018. In March 2018, just before turning 11, he achieved his final norm for the title of International Master (IM) at the 34th Open Tournament in Cappelle-la-Grande, France—a tournament in which I have also participated regularly.
A particularly remarkable achievement came in 2022 when Gukesh represented India’s second team at the 44th Chess Olympiad. Starting with an incredible score of 8 out of 8, he ultimately scored 9 out of 11, with a performance rating of 2867. This earned him an individual gold medal on the first board.
In April 2024, Gukesh reached new heights by winning the Candidates Tournament. Not only did he become the youngest-ever winner of the tournament, but he also earned the right to challenge the reigning World Champion at the age of 18. The highly anticipated duel against Ding Liren took place from November 20 to December 15, 2024, in Singapore.
If I were to describe the playing style of this rising star, I’d note that he often builds his games calmly in the opening but prefers to sharpen the position as the middle game approaches. He does not shy away from complex and unclear positions, where he consistently manages to hold his ground. By leading opponents into tactical complications, Gukesh often causes even the strongest players in the world to falter.
That said, Gukesh is not merely a tactician. He is also an excellent strategist who handles clear, positional games with remarkable ease. Once he gains a material advantage, his endgame technique is impeccable, converting advantageous positions into victories with apparent simplicity.
From the vast collection of Gukesh’s beautiful games, it was challenging to select one that perfectly exemplifies his style. However, I believe I have succeeded in assembling some game fragments that characterize his play wonderfully.
With what strong move can White, in the diagrammed position, finish this brilliant attacking game?
Key Concepts of Chess - Pawn Structures Vol.1 and 2
In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures.
This week’s show (for Premium Members only)
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