On November 15, 1989, a 16-year-old prodigy named Sachin Tendulkar walked up to the National Stadium, Karachi, to face a fearsome Pakistani bowling attack. He went on to conquer the world. After almost 35 years, a 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh has not just achieved a similar feat, but has arguably gone one step further.

Gukesh faced some of the best players in the world at the Candidates Chess tournament, which is an extraordinary feat in itself. But he didn’t just make his debut. He went on to win it!

This is a staggering achievement that even chess greats like Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen couldn’t achieve in their first attempt. Gukesh replaces Garry Kasparov as the youngest World Championship challenger.

Seed to sprout...

The AI revolution in chess started well before ChatGPT was conceived. in 2016, I heard about a 10-year-old boy who never used chess engine. I had my doubts about such an approach which I initially felt was regressive. I even managed to secure a couple of victories against this boy during that time. That was before he evolved into a remarkably strong player.

While his exceptional talent was evident from the start, Gukesh’s unique prowess among other gifted players wasn’t immediately apparent to me. This perception changed during the pandemic in 2020 as Gukesh displayed extraordinary progress outpacing his peers at higher levels, where progress tends to slow down.

Although Gukesh had become the second-youngest grandmaster in history by 2019, his development after 2020 proceeded at a distinct pace. It took me a while, but I understood that a strong foundation had been laid.

Gukesh’s approach brought in much-needed freshness in a world ruled by AI and computers. This not only brings in creativity, but also helps him bamboozle his opponents, who struggle to understand him. This also shows that human creativity still has so much to offer.

... Sprout to seedling

Gukesh’s breakthrough happened during the 2022 Chennai Olympiad where he scored an incredible 8/8 in the first eight games, an unprecedented feat in the history of chess Olympiads.

This tournament marked the beginning of Gukesh’s victories over elite players like the world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana, contributing significantly to India’s triumph against tournament favourites the US and helping the Indian team bag a bronze medal at the Olympiad.

Following his initial success in 2023, Gukesh emerged as a frontrunner for qualification to the Candidates through various avenues. However, a setback occurred when he lost to Magnus Carlsen in the quarter finals, which followed a significant decline in rating and form, placing him
second in the Fide circuit path by December 2023.

His second breakthrough moment came when he was presented with yet another chance to qualify for the Candidates through the 2023 Chennai Grand Masters. Gukesh won the tournament and secured himself a spot at Candidates.

Tough mental make-up

Gukesh’s run in the Candidates 2024 was not a cakewalk. A tough loss in the seventh round to Alireza Firouzja might have deterred many, but not Gukesh. He got his revenge against Alireza Firouzja in the 13th round. Gukesh made a seamless draw in the final round against the World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura. This ensured that he won the tournament and set up a match against China’s reigning world champion Ding Liren.

World Championship

I feel bullish about Gukesh’s chances because his form is on the rise, while Ding’s has been on the wane. This is similar to the 2013 World Championship match, when a young and talented Magnus Carlsen defeated the legendary Viswanathan Anand, taking the world championship away from India. Eleven years later, I root for Gukesh to bring the World Championship title back to India.

• The Chennai-based writer is a grandmaster and vice-captain of the Indian team which won the gold medal in the Fide Online Chess Olympiad 2020