Chess: Gukesh Dommaraju – inexperienced, expected to fail, but the chosen Candidate
In his first Candidates appearance, 17-year-old Gukesh became the youngest winner of the prestigious tournament and qualified for the World Championship match.
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Gukesh Dommaraju felt the pressure after his final match at the FIDE Candidates on Sunday night, in Toronto, Canada. He needed an outright win, using black pieces, against world No 3 Hikaru Nakamura to secure the title. But after 71 moves in the match, they agreed to a draw.
Gukesh still had the lead, but an outright win in the game between world No 2 Fabiano Caruana and two-time champion Ian Nepomniachtchi would mean that the Indian Grandmaster would have to play nerve-wracking tiebreaks against a more seasoned opponent.
Accompanied by his father Rajnikanth and second, Grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski, Gukesh hung around the playing venue after his game for a bit before deciding to head back to the hotel. The pressure of watching Caruana and Nepomniachtchi slug it out in a seesaw battle was hard to handle for the 17-year-old from Chennai – the second youngest player to compete at the Candidates after 16-year-old Bobby Fisher featured in the 1959 edition.
To switch his mind off, Gukesh went out for a walk with Gajewski. But just minutes later, his father came running for them.
“It’s over,” Rajnikanth told his son.
Caruana and Nepomniachtchi had agreed to a draw after a 109-move battle. Gukesh had become the youngest-ever player to win the...
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