Chess prodigy and Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has now become India’s top-ranked chess player, overtaking India’s first GM Viswanathan Anand in live ratings.
Gukesh’s ranking improved after he qualified for the third round of the FIDE Chess World Cup, a major single-elimination tournament going on in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 17-year-old GM beat the home turf’s GM Misratdin Iskandaro to secure a live rating of 2755.9, narrowly beating Anand’s 2754.0.
Anand has been India’s top chess player in the published rankings for the last 36 years. That is also expected to change when FIDE publishes its ratings at the end of this month.
Gukesh saw an electric rise after breaking into the top 100 in 2023. His current world ranking is 11 based on FIDE’s monthly list. This ranking differs from the live ratings, which are calculated on a daily basis immediately after matches.
In July, Gukesh also became the youngest chess player to cross the 2750 mark, edging past a record held by five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has been World No. 1 since July 2011. Carlsen’s current live rating is 2838.4, followed by the US’ Fabiano Caruana at 2786.4.
Running till August 25, the FIDE World Cup also serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Chess World Championship. The FIDE World Cup has 17 Indian participants this year.
