Candidates tournament in Toronto | Indian chess prodigy becomes youngest challenger in history

(Toronto) The young Indian grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh, only 17 years old, won a memorable vintage of the chess candidates tournament, which was held from April 4 to 20 in Toronto.

He became the youngest winner in the history of this tournament – ​​perhaps the most important ever played in Canada since the 1894 world championship match between Steinitz and Lasker, a portion of which was played in Montreal – and he at the same time becomes the youngest challenger for the ultimate title.

Gukesh will now have the opportunity to face world champion Ding Liren of China in a match towards the end of the year. Ding has held the title since 2023; he succeeded the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen who gave up the title after being world champion from 2013 to 2023.

A dramatic final round

The fourteenth and final round of the Toronto tournament could not have offered a better scenario, because the four leaders faced each other and all still had a chance to win.

Ahead of half a point over the other three (a draw is worth half a point, a victory, one point), the Indian Gukesh had the delicate task of confronting the grandmaster and streamer American Hikaru Nakamura, third player in the world and the most flamboyant personality in the world of chess. Nakamura broadcasts his fast-paced games with live commentary daily on platforms like Twitch or YouTube and has even continued his activity as a streamer for his thousands of fans during the tournament by filming his analyzes just a few minutes after each of his games^⁠1.

“I think Gukesh would be happy with a draw, but if Nakamura takes too many risks, he will try to take his chances,” Indian journalist Sagar Shah told us. A draw would effectively guarantee a tie for the lead for Gukesh, who surprised Nakamura for the occasion with an accepted queen gambit which allowed him to obtain the precious half-point a few hours later despite all of Nakamura’s efforts.

Gukesh’s supporters, around a hundred of whom are waiting for him in front of The Great Hall where the tournament is taking place, can already rejoice. Their favorite is guaranteed to play at least one tiebreaker match for the title.

“He was my favorite player even before the tournament,” Shiva assures us, which is confirmed by his friend Yash. The eight-player tournament has two other Indian players, who initially could aspire to the title just as much as Gukesh.

Caruana cracks

The other crucial part of the final round takes place between the Italian-American Fabiano Caruana, second in the world and once winner of the candidates in the past, and the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi (Nepo), winner of the two previous editions and who plays without being able to display his country’s flag since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both fell to Magnus Carlsen at the very last stage of their quest for the world champion title. This time, they absolutely must win to join Gukesh in the lead and play a mini-tiebreaker match with him.

Their game is complicated from the opening, but Caruana takes a decisive advantage in the middle of the game, in a kind of dynamic position where he excels. Normally, victory would be in the pocket, but against Nepo, who has never been defeated in the candidates tournament despite numerous positions where he had to transform into Houdini, achieving an advantage is not easy .

The high stakes and lack of time add to the difficulty of Caruana’s task, as he misses several ways to finish Nepo. At 39^e suddenly, the latter sacrifices his rook against a pawn and a bishop and obtains a monstrous counterplay thanks to his queen, his knight and his very advanced pawn.

Hundreds of thousands of people follow the game around the world, but only a few dozen have the chance to actually watch it live, from the top of the balustrade which overlooks the playing area and which can only be accessed after be separated from any electronic device and passed through a metal detector, in order to avoid any possibility of cheating.

The game is broadcast outside on a 15-minute delay, but spectators at the Great Hall can see Caruana’s chair wobble as the final seconds tick by and he fails to find victory in a position where the tactician Nepo harasses his king.

A few seconds from losing time, Caruana transposed into a final with no hope of winning and had to settle for a draw after an exhausting and heartbreaking game of 109 moves. Disappointing result for Caruana and Nepo, but magnificent for Gukesh and his many supporters who wait for him outside, screaming. “ India! India! Gukesh is the best! »

Inside, the winner, known for his composure, calmly answers questions from Al Jazeera journalists, El País… And The Press.

1. Listen to Hikaru Nakamura’s comments on his last game (in English)