Around dawn in India on 22 April, news came through from Canada bearing historical significance, as Dommaraju Gukesh, the 17-year-old chess prodigy, won the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Despite competing against the likes of a two-time Candidates champion in Ian Nepomniachtchi, world number 2 Fabiano Caruana and world number 3 Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh stood the tallest.
But, what does the win mean to him? Why is this competition significant? Let’s find out.
The Importance of the Candidates Tournament
Winning the Candidates Tournament does not earn a player the crown of the world chess champion. Instead, it gives that player the right to compete against the defending world champion in a fourteen-game battle at the World Chess Championship. The name, hence, is self-explanatory, as the competition is used to select the candidate to contest the current champion.
Now that Gukesh has won the 2024 Candidates Tournament, he will be competing against the winner of the defending champion, China’s Ding Liren at the 2024 World Chess Championship.
The Other Significance of Gukesh’s Achievement
What makes the win even more significant is that Gukesh became the youngest-ever player to win the World Chess Championship, beating Garry Kasparov’s record. Whilst the Russian was 20 years and 11 months old when he won it in 1984, Gukesh did it at 17 years and 11 months.
Moreover, he became only the second Indian to win the Candidates Tournament, after his idol Viswanathan Anand. Should he beat Liren at the World Chess Championship, Gukesh will become the youngest world champion, yet again beating Kasparov’s record.