Indian chess has been on the upward trajectory for the previous two years or so, however nobody can deny that 2024 has been a 12 months the place the game took a quantum leap. The 12 months kicked-off with Candidates match in Toronto, Canada the place 5 Indians made the lower within the open discipline regardless of the tough qualification calls for of the competitors. Only eight qualify for the Candidates. While D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi made the lower within the eight-man line-up, Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu had been a part of the eight-women class.
In the boys’s class, Gukesh earned his shot at difficult Ding Liren for the world title, overcoming a number of challenges regardless of the presence of veterans like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. He turned the youngest-ever to win a shot on the world title.
However, this was simply the beginning of what turned out to be an unprecedented 12 months for Indian chess. With over 180 nations taking part within the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, the Indian contingent gained open crew golds in each males’s and girls’s class.
India additionally gained 4 particular person golds to clinch most medals on provide – Gukesh (Board 1) and Arjun Erigaisi (Board 3) in open class, whereas Divya Deshmukh (Board 4) and Vantika Agrawal (Board 4) in girls’s class.
Just like Gukesh, Erigaisi too peaked in 2024. After lacking out on the candidates, he turned solely the second Indian after five-time champion Viswanathan Anand, and sixteenth total, to realize the gold-standard ELO ranking of 2800. He was on 2801 ranking level as per the most recent replace, and likewise achieved his peak rating of no. 3.
Divya Deshmukh too had a momentous 2024 as she gained the lady’s title on the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship in Gandhinagar. She can also be knocking on the door to develop into solely the fourth girl from the nation to earn the title of Grandmaster.
And to high all that, Gukesh made essentially the most of his classical world title shot, beating defending champion Ding Liren to triumph. Gukesh beat Ding within the 14-game tie in Singapore, turning into the youngest-ever world champion. His triumph additionally meant that India received its second world champions after Vishy.
After Gukesh’s triumph, chess legend Garry Kasparov, who was the earlier youngest world champion, brilliantly summed up India’s sudden rise in chess.
“Gukesh’s victory caps a phenomenal year for India. Combined with their Olympiad dominance, chess has returned to its cradle and the era of ‘Vishy’s children’ is truly upon us!” Kasparov highlighted whereas congratulating Gukesh on breaking his file.
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