Picture Credit: Twitter
In a big news, 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh has displaced India’s long standing No. 1 Vishwanathan Anand at the helm. In the latest rankings released by International Chess Federation (FIDE), GM Gukesh ended Vishwanathan Anand’s 36-year-long streak at India’s No. 1 on Friday, August 4.
Notably, this achievement came after Gukesh’s victory over Misratdin Iskandarov of Azerbaijan in the second-round match at the World Cup. Gukesh’s win came in just 44 moves and with this, he has gained 2.5 rating, elevating his rating to 2755.9. He has now surpassed Vishy Anand’s rating of 2754.0 to move upto No. 1 in India and No. 9 in the world live rankings.
The International Chess Federation also took to Twitter to share the news of Gukesh surpassing Vishwanathan Anand in the live ratings. “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 FIDE’s tweet read.
It is to be noted that Anand has been India’s No. 1 ranked player since January 1987 after he entered the Top 10 in July 1991 in the world rankings. Furthermore, if Gukesh continues to maintain lead over Ananad until September 1, he will become the first Indian to surpass the 53-year-old since Pravin Thipsay in July 1986.
