A yr after inflicting a serious stir on the Chess Olympiad, D. Gukesh is demanding consideration but once more. The 17-year-old on Thursday, in the course of the on-going Chess World Cup on the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, replaced Viswanathan Anand as India’s No. 1 chess player in reside ranking. That has occurred solely as soon as earlier than, and really fleetingly, over the last 37 years, when P. Harikrishna edged previous the five-time World champion in March 2016. But Anand has by no means misplaced his India No. 1 rank in FIDE’s ranking record since July 1986, when he overtook Pravin Thipsay. Gukesh is now near ending that unbelievable run, and it may occur in FIDE’s subsequent record, to be launched in lower than a month’s time. That might be a big achievement little question, and can increase Gukesh’s confidence additional, however what’s extra vital is that he may very well be breaking into the world’s high 10, which is an extremely arduous fortress to breach. Even extra vital is the truth that he may very well be doing it whereas he’s nonetheless very a lot in his teenagers. A fortnight in the past, he crossed one other main milestone, when he touched 2750 Elo factors.

As per the reside ranking on August 6, Gukesh is on 2756 factors and is ranked World No. 9, one slot forward of Anand (2754). India thus has two gamers within the World high 10. The solely different Indian to be ranked inside the highest 10 has been Harikrishna (in 2016). That Koneru Humpy is World No. 4 amongst ladies and Dronavalli Harika No. 12 additionally reveals how far India has travelled on the chessboard from the time when it didn’t have a single Grandmaster till Anand. There is an much more telling little bit of statistics: 4 of the world’s high seven within the junior rating record are Indians. Among the junior women, there are two within the high 10. Gukesh’s beautiful feat will after all be an inspiration for India’s younger crop. Players corresponding to Arjun Erigaisi, R. Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin have additionally been making speedy progress on the worldwide area and are a part of the golden era of Indian chess. Gukesh is main that thrilling bunch of gamers, and inside just a few years, he may pose a critical problem for the World title. With Anand as his mentor, he may very well be assured of the best steering. And if the All India Chess Federation may lastly give you some elite tournaments at residence for gamers like Gukesh, the sport will develop even sooner within the nation.