Enter Another Chess Prodigy: Gukesh Dommaraju

Life is not just about talent; circumstances, environment, timing and an umpteen number of other factors are all at work to create heroes for us. Regular readers of The Teenager Today may like to refresh their memories about the August 2018 issue of the magazine which carried an article on our chess prodigy, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. At the age of 10 years, 10 months and 11 days, he became the world’s youngest International Chess Master, but in the absence of more tournaments, he had to wait till he was 12 years, 10 months and 13 days to become a Grand Master.
India was blessed with another chess prodigy in Gukesh Dommaraju who, in 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, emerged as the world’s second youngest-ever chess Grand Master, falling short by just seventeen days to equal Sergey Karjakin’s record. In 2021, however, Gukesh slipped to third place among the youngest Grand Masters when American chess prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra broke Sergey’s 22-year-old record to become the youngest chess Grand Master at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 11 days; unbelievable but true!
Gukesh, however, holds some world records against his name. Although he is the third youngest to achieve an ELO rating of 2700 (September 2022), he is the youngest ever to reach 2750 (August 2023), and now to top it all, he is the youngest ever to win the FIDE Candidates Tournament and become eligible to compete for the World Chess Championship.

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Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years as a reader and contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and with Forbes & Company Limited, he is now a lawyer in Nainital High Court.