D Gukesh surpasses Viswanathan Anand to become India’s top chess player in FIDE rating list

New Delhi [India], September 1 (ANI): India’s Grandmaster D Gukesh achieved a milestone by surpassing former five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand to become India’s Number one chess player after the International Chess Federation (FIDE) released their recent rating list on Friday. 

International Chess Federation (FIDE) shared this news on their X (formerly Twitter) handle. “It’s official! Gukesh is India’s #1 in the #FIDErating list! The 17-year-old prodigy makes history by overtaking the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand and terminating his uninterrupted 37-year reign as India’s top-rated player!” FIDE wrote. 

The 17-year-old prodigy jumped to eighth position with 2758 points, he gained seven spots up in the list. While Anand is standing at number nine in the recent rankings.  Gukesh was eliminated from the FIDE World Cup in the quarter-finals facing World No. Magnus Carlsen who later won the World Cup title in Azerbaijan.

Earlier, Gukesh got a live rating of 2755.9 to move up to world number 9 in the classic open category after he defeated Mistradin Iskandarov in the second round of the FIDE World Cup. Notably, his fellow Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa secured silver in the International Chess Federation World Cup on August 24. He also faced defeat against Carlsen in the final clash. 

Following his brilliant performance in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup, 18-year-old Chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Praggnanandhaa expressed delight at his visit and shared the news with his fans through X (formerly known as Twitter). He thanked PM Modi for encouraging him and his parents. “It was a great honour to meet Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi at his residence! Thank you sir for all the words of encouragement to me and my parents,” the young Chess star posted on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).

Praggnanandhaa had an excellent tournament where he defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in a tie-breaker while reaching the final defeating World No 3 Fabiano Caruana. He has also qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament. The 2024 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament scheduled to be held from 2 April to 25 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the tournament will become the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match.