Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh Dommaraju (often known as Gukesh D) is an Indian chess player, grandmaster, chess prodigy, and World Chess Champion. Gukesh started playing chess when he was 7 years old. At the age of 12, he won the World Youth Chess Championship in the under-12 category, and at the same age he earned the title of grandmaster. He won a silver medal at the 2022 World Team Chess Championship as part of the Indian national team. In 2024, he won the Candidates Tournament and defeated the reigning world champion from China, Ding Liren. As a result, Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion in history at the age of 18 years and 195 days.

Early years

Gukesh was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family (a Dravidian ethnic group in India). His mother is a microbiologist, and his father is an ENT surgeon. At the age of seven, Dommaraju learned to play chess and began training with a coach three times a week. After completing the fourth grade, he stopped attending school and fully focused on learning and improving his chess skills. In 2017, his father left his job to travel with his son to various tournaments. Financial support from family friends was also needed, something Gukesh himself often mentions today.

Gukesh’s coach was grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna. A distinctive feature of their training was that Prasanna did not allow Gukesh to use chess engines for analysis and practice during the early years of his career. The goal was to develop intuition and independent analytical thinking.

Career

Gukesh Dommaraju made his mark on world chess at a very young age. Even as a child, he began winning international tournaments. In 2015, Gukesh won the Asian School Chess Championship in the under-9 category, and three years later became the World Youth Chess Champion in the under-12 category.

2018 was a particularly successful year for him. At the Asian Youth Chess Championship, he won five gold medals in different disciplines — classical chess, rapid, blitz, as well as team competitions. At the same time, Gukesh continued to progress in adult chess and achieved his International Master norms in March 2017.

On 15 January 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, Gukesh became a grandmaster. At that time, he was the second-youngest chess player in history to receive this title. The only player younger than him was Sergey Karjakin.

Rapid rise among the world elite

The following years became a period of rapid progress for the young Indian chess player. In 2021, Gukesh won the Gelfand Challenge tournament, and soon afterwards he began regularly competing against the strongest players in the world.

At the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, he achieved one of the best results of his career at that point. Gukesh scored 9 points out of 11 possible on the first board and won an individual gold medal. That same year, his FIDE rating surpassed the 2700 mark.

In October 2022, Gukesh made history by defeating Magnus Carlsen at the Aimchess Rapid tournament. At the time, the Norwegian was the reigning world champion, and Gukesh became the youngest chess player ever to defeat him.

In 2023, Gukesh’s rating exceeded 2750 points. At the Chess World Cup in Baku, he reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Carlsen. That same year, the Indian player overtook Viswanathan Anand in the FIDE rankings and became the strongest chess player in India for the first time.

Victory at the Candidates Tournament

In 2024, Gukesh received his first real opportunity to compete for the world championship title. He qualified for the Candidates Tournament after finishing second in the FIDE qualifying event. Since the winner of the competition, Fabiano Caruana, had already qualified through the World Cup, the spot went to the Indian grandmaster.

In Toronto, Gukesh faced a field of experienced opponents, but from the very first rounds he showed that he had come not just to gain experience. He won five games, lost only once, and finished the tournament with 9 points. This result was enough to secure first place.

With this achievement, Gukesh made history at the age of 17 as the youngest winner of the Candidates Tournament. The main prize was the opportunity to play a World Championship match against the reigning champion Ding Liren.

World Champion at the age of 18

Before the World Championship match, Gukesh once again confirmed his elite level. At the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, he became one of the main heroes of the Indian team, which won team gold for the first time in its history. Playing on the first board, Gukesh did not lose a single game and scored 9 points out of 10.

The match against Ding Liren was extremely tense. In the 14 classical games, both players had their chances, and before the final game the score remained tied. In the decisive game, it was Ding who made the mistake, and Gukesh did not miss his opportunity, converting the advantage into a victory.

With a score of 7½:6½, the Indian won the match and became world champion. At the age of 18, Gukesh set a new age record — he became the youngest undisputed world chess champion in history, surpassing Garry Kasparov’s achievement.

The final, 14th game of the World Championship match between Dommaraju (playing Black) and Ding Liren (playing White):

First season after becoming world champion

After winning the title, attention towards Gukesh increased even further. Every tournament appearance was no longer viewed merely as the performance of a young talent, but as the play of the reigning world champion.

At the beginning of 2025, he performed well at Tata Steel Chess, where he shared first place with R. Praggnanandhaa. The winner was decided by a tiebreak, in which his compatriot proved stronger.

One of Gukesh's best tournaments of the year was Norway Chess. There, he defeated Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, and Hikaru Nakamura, finishing the event in third place. In 2025, he also helped the Superchess club win the European Chess Club Cup and became the best player on the first board.

However, after winning the world championship, avoiding a decline in results proved impossible. At the World Cup, Gukesh unexpectedly ended his run in the third round, while his performances in rapid and blitz tournaments were far from a title-winning level.

Difficult period in 2026

The beginning of 2026 proved challenging for Gukesh. At Tata Steel Chess, he was unable to fight for the top places, and at the Prague Chess Festival he finished the tournament with a score of 3½ points out of 9.

After a series of disappointing performances, Gukesh decided to change his schedule and place more emphasis on rapid and blitz chess. At the Super United Rapid & Blitz events in Poland and Croatia, he finished in sixth place.

The most difficult tournament was Norway Chess 2026. The reigning world champion finished last among six participants, losing five classical games. He faced Magnus Carlsen twice, and the Norwegian won both encounters.

In July, Gukesh played at the Chennai Grand Masters tournament, but once again failed to achieve a strong result — finishing eighth among eight participants. After this, his FIDE rating dropped to 2703 points.

Playing style

Gukesh has a dynamic and reactive playing style, with the ability to calculate quickly under time pressure, which often leads to spectacular combinations in his games. Magnus Carlsen describes Gukesh as a counterattacking player who makes few mistakes and is therefore always dangerous. Raymond Keene noted that one of Gukesh's strengths is his ability to continue fighting even in difficult positions. The Indian grandmaster rarely rushes to draw or simplify the game, instead looking for opportunities to maintain the initiative. His style resembles the approach of Anatoly Karpov — gradual, methodical pressure on the opponent, where small advantages are step by step transformed into a decisive advantage.

Notable games

Game against Magnus Carlsen in 2022. Magnus played Black, Dommaraju played White:

After move 58, Magnus resigned, as avoiding checkmate was impossible.

Game between Dommaraju (White) and Alireza Firouzja at the 2024 Candidates Tournament:

This decisive victory in the penultimate round helped Gukesh take the lead.

Game between Dommaraju (White) and Wei Yi at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024:

This game was recognized as the best game of the tournament.