Gukesh dethrones Viswanathan Anand as India's top chess player after 37 years

Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh has replaced the legendary Viswanathan Anand as India’s top chess player after more than three decades. Anand has been India’s No.1 since July 1986.

Gukesh had overtaken his idol and mentor Anand in live world (FIDE) rankings during the World Cup in Baku. Anand, who has been the India No.1 since July 1, 1986, has relinquished the top spot after 37 years and two months.

The 17-year-old Chennai-based Grandmaster, who recently lost in the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup in Baku to Magnus Carlsen, moved ahead of Anand to be ranked No. 8 in the world. With this, Gukesh also broke into the top 10 of the FIDE rating list for the first time.

Five Indians in top 30

Anand, a five-time world champion is currently ranked No. 9. As per the FIDE ratings effective September 1, Gukesh’s rating is 2758 while Anand's is 2754. Gukesh has gained three places in the rating list since August 1. Semi-retired, 53-year-old Anand has taken up new roles over the past few years. He has been performing the duties of the Deputy President of the FIDE (the world chess federation) since August last year. He has become a commentator and is also busy mentoring the rising teens.

Another teen prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who made the world take notice of him by reaching the World Cup final where he lost to Carlsen, has risen to No. 19 in the list with a rating of 2727. He is India’s No.3 player behind Gukesh and Anand. There are five Indians currently in the top 30 and that includes Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (No.27) and Arjun Erigaisi (No.29). The experienced P Harikrishna is 31st.

“Gukesh D won again today and has overcome Viswanathan Anand in live rating! There is still almost a month till next official FIDE rating list on September 1, but it’s highly likely that 17-year-old will be making it to top 10 in the world as the highest-rated Indian player,” the international chess federation (FIDE) had said in a tweet after Gukesh defeated Azerbaijan's Misratdin Iskandarov in the second round of the World Cup recently to go past the chess maestro in live ratings.

Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, who have been picked as part of the Indian squad for the forthcoming Asian Games, will take part in a preparatory camp in Kolkata and then participate in the Tata Steel Chess India tournament from September 5.

Dream run continues

Gukesh put in a lot of effort and worked hard with Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna on several aspects of chess during the COVID outbreak. Following his return with the national championship in February last year, Gukesh played 127 rated games during the year and raised his rating from 2614 to 2725, taking a leap of over 100 places in the world.

His dream run continued in the coming days and he emerged victorious in three consecutive tournaments in Spain – La Roda Open, Menorca Open and Formentera Open – in April-May last year. He played 26 unbeaten games spread over 25 days and became World No. 66 in live rating.

He breached the 2700 mark in rating during his awe-inspiring series of triumphs in the first eight rounds of the Chess Olympiad that made the chess world sit up and take note. He has played 76 rated games to move from 2725 to 2758 this year.

(With agency inputs)