Toronto, Canada, 17 year Old Grand Master D Gukesh creates history by becoming the youngest player in history to win Candidates 2024. He broke record of the great Bobby Fischer. He becomes the youngest challenger to World Champion. He is the only second Indian to achieve this feat after former World Champion GM Vishy Anand.
It was very interesting finish as Gukesh was leading candidates by Half a point and there were 3 other players chasing. GM Nepo was playing against GM Fabiano Caruana which ended in a draw but any one winning would have ended in tie-breaker. But it ended in a draw and GM Gukesh who drew his game comfortably with GM Hikaru Nakamura. The Asian supremacy in Chess begins as the World Championship Challenger and World Champion in both Open and Women Category are from India and China. Hence its sure shot that the World Champion is going to be from Asian Continent.
There were more then 50000 people following his last game wanting him to win the Candidates. GM Gukesh said in the Press conference that he was thoroughly focused in the tournament and hasn’t been following anything. He said the most nervous moment in the tournament was after drawing his last game he was very nervous and couldn’t follow the the commentary as the bars were going crazy and he went for a walk with his second where he got the news they there game has ended in draw and he has won the candidates. Gukesh was accompanied by his father to Canada who said he was super happy after he won the Candidates. The most exciting moment was when he came back to the hotel all Chess fans from across the Globe started chanting Gukesh , Gukesh.
In other matches GM R Praggnanandhaa scored an excellent victory over Grand Master Nijat Abasov but another highlight of the evening was GM elect R Vaishali scored 5th straight win and may be it’s a record in itself where she scored 5 wins in last 5 games.
It was a great for Indians as GM Koneru Humpy also scored the 2 win of the tournament the only result which went in a draw was GM Vidit Gujarathi drew his game quickly with GM Alireza Firouza.
Final Standings after Round 14:
Open:
1. Gukesh – 9
2. Nakamura – 8½
3. Nepomniachtchi – 8½
4. Caruana – 8½
5. Praggnanandhaa – 7
6. Vidit – 6
7. Firouzja – 5
8. Abasov – 3½
Women’s:
- Tan – 9
2. Koneru – 7½
3. Lei – 7½
4. Vaishali – 7½
5. Goryachkina – 7
7. Salimova – 5½
8. A. Muzychuk – 5½