In a historic moment for Indian chess, 17-year-old Grandmaster D. Gukesh has surpassed the legendary Viswanathan Anand as the top-ranked Indian player in the official FIDE rating list. The latest update in the list shows Gukesh at the eighth position in the world with a rating of 2758, while Anand is at the ninth spot with a rating of 2754. This marks the end of Anand's remarkable reign as India's No. 1 since July 1986, when he became the country's first Grandmaster.
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Gukesh, who hails from Chennai, became the second-youngest grandmaster in history on January 15, 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days. He nearly surpassed Sergey Karjakin as the youngest grandmaster ever but missed the record by 17 days. In the process, the prodigy also broke Praggannanda’s record and became the country’s youngest-ever grandmaster. The teen reached the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup in Baku in August 2023, where he lost to eventual champion Magnus Carlsen.
Anand, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time, has been an inspiration for generations of Indian chess players. The five-time World champion is currently semi-retired from active chess. Since last August, Anand has been performing the duties of the FIDE Deputy President as a commentator and mentoring the new crop of players.
Gukesh was in red hot form since the COVID outbreak as he won three tournaments in Spain on the trot—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 ratings.
There are five Indians currently in the top 30, and that includes Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (No. 27), Arjun Erigaisi (No. 29), and the experienced P Harikrishna (No. 31). Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, who were chosen to represent India in the upcoming Asian Games, will attend a training camp in Kolkata before competing in the Tata Steel Chess India tournament starting on September 5.
