S2 E24 Dommaraju Gukesh v. M. Vachier-Lagrave (2023)

Blindfold Chess Podcast

This week, we are looking at the Indian prodigy - Dommaraju Gukesh commonly known as Gukesh D.

Born in 2006, Gukesh D learned how to play chess at the age of 7.

Two years after he started to play chess, he won the Under 9 Asian School Championships in 2015 with a 1770 rating.

He did not stop there, with his rating rapidly climbing - his father gave up his career as an ear, nose, throat surgeon to support his son while his mum continued to be a microbiologist.

In March of 2018, Gukesh fulfilled the requirements for his International Master title at the age of 11. Later in the year, he participated in the World Youth Championships for the Under 12 division. At the event, he won 5 gold medals - one in each the: team rapid, team blitz, individual class, individual rapid, and individual blitz categories.

He had a chance to become the youngest GM in history in December 2018, but he drew a must win game, falling short of his final GM norm by ½ of a point at the Sunway Sitges Chess Festival. In an interview with ESPN, Gukesh said - “I was disappointed for 2 days. Then I moved on”.

The following year, in 2019, he became (at the time) the 2nd youngest player to ever earn his Grandmaster title at the age of - 12 years, 7 months, 17 days. He missed Sergey Karjakin’s record by 17 days.

From getting his first International Master norm to his final Grandmaster norm, Gukesh played in over 30 tournaments over 16 months covering 276 games in 13 countries. Over a span of 5.5 years, he went from a rating of 1300 to 2500.

In 2021, he earned gold on Board one at the Chess Olympiad with a 2867 performance rating.

Last year was a very busy year for Gukesh, he surpassed Vishiwanathan Anand as the top ranked Indian player. The first time in 37 years that Anand was not the top ranked Indian player. He finished 2nd in the FIDE World Cup earning a spot in the 2024 Candidates tournament. He was the youngest to cross the 2750 rating barrier.

Gukesh is still in school! He attends (Vel-a-mal Vid-e-a-lee-ya) (Mel Aye-an-a-back-um) Velammal Vidyalaya , Mel Ayanambakkam in Chennai. He attends the same school as Praggnanandhaa. In September of 2023, they both received 20 lakh from their school for their chess accomplishments. 20 lakh is approximately $24,000 USD or 22,000 Euros.

So far in 2024, Gukesh finished in a 4 way tie for 1st in 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

There doesn’t seem to be a ceiling for Gukesh’s accomplishments. Time will only tell what he will be able to do in the future.

This week, we are going to the Tata Steel India tournament from last year - Dommaraju Gukesh versus Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Bb4 7. e3 Ne4 8. Qc2 g5 9. Bg3 Nb6 10. Bd3 Bf5 11. Nd2 Qe7 12. a3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 h5 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15. h4 O-O-O 16. c4 Bg6 17. a4 Rxd4 18. a5 Rhd8 19. axb6 Rxd2 20. bxa7 Rxc2 21. a8=Q+ Kd7 22. Qa4+ Ke6 23. Qxc2 Qb4+ 24. Ke2 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2569140

https://www.chess.com/players/gukesh-dommaraju

https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/chess/praggnanandhaa-gukesh-felicitated-school-velammal-nexus-cash-prize-anand-udhayanidhi-stalin-india-chess-news/article67296473.ece