Gukesh wins Candidates tournament, becomes the challenger for world title

Chennai, April 22 (IANS) Seventeen-year-old Indian chess Grandmaster D. Gukesh on Monday became the youngest player to win the FIDE Candidates tournament and to become the challenger for the world chess title.

Gukesh will now play against world champion and Chinese Grandmaster Liren Ding for the world title.

Gukesh drew with the American Grandmaster and world number three Hikaru Nakamura in the 14th round of the Candidates tournament at Toronto in Canada to become the world title challenger with nine points.

The players signed a truce pact after Nakamura playing white made the 71st move when both the players had only their kings on the board.

The Indian Grandmaster turned out to be the winner as the game between the Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi and the US Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana -- with eight points -- ended in a draw, with both closing the tournament with 8.5 points.

Finally, the prayers of the young and old Indian chess players and even their parents were answered positively by the almighty.

Gukesh after the game said he felt confident of winning the tournament after his loss against the US Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in the seventh round.

The Indian teenager lost the game in time trouble despite having a good position against Caruana.

"The loss gave me motivation. The mental attitude towards the Candidates tournament was good," Gukesh said after the game.

He said Yoga and meditation helped a lot to be a successful chess player.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

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