1. Gukesh Dommaraju was born on 29 May 2006 and is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion.
26 Facts About Gukesh Dommaraju
1. 2.
Gukesh Dommaraju earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 and is the third-youngest grandmaster in chess history.
3.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the under-12 title at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018, and multiple gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championship.
4.
Gukesh Dommaraju was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men's team competition.
5.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the team bronze and the individual gold medal at the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022.
6.
Gukesh Dommaraju was born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family from Andhra Pradesh.
7.
Gukesh Dommaraju's mother, Padmakumari, is a microbiologist, and his father, Rajinikanth, is an ENT surgeon who moved to Chennai to pursue his medical career.
8.
Gukesh Dommaraju studied at the Velammal Vidyalaya School in Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai.
9.
Gukesh Dommaraju's grandfather Shankar Raju was born and raised in Chenchuraju Kandriga and worked in the Indian Railways.
10.
Gukesh Dommaraju learned to play chess in 2013, at the age of seven, and eventually began structured one-hour sessions three times a week.
11.
Gukesh Dommaraju dropped out of school after Class IV, that is, in elementary school, to focus on his chess career.
12.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015.
13.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018 in the under-12 category.
14.
Gukesh Dommaraju completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.
15.
On 15January 2019, Gukesh Dommaraju became the then second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, behind Sergey Karjakin.
16.
Gukesh Dommaraju was part of the India-2 team which won the bronze medal in the same tournament.
17.
Gukesh Dommaraju finished second in the FIDE Circuit behind Fabiano Caruana, and took the qualifying spot reserved for the winner, as Caruana had already qualified through the Chess World Cup.
18.
Gukesh Dommaraju was the third-youngest player to qualify for a Candidates tournament, behind Bobby Fischer and Carlsen.
19.
Gukesh Dommaraju defeated Anish Giri in the semifinals before losing to Wei Yi in the finals of the tiebreaker.
20.
Gukesh Dommaraju won five games against R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi playing as Black, Firouzja playing as White, and Nijat Abasov playing as both Black and White.
21.
Gukesh Dommaraju was the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates tournament.
22.
In September 2024, Gukesh Dommaraju took part in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest as part of the Indian team.
23.
Gukesh Dommaraju did not lose a single match and won the individual gold medal with a score of nine across ten rounds.
24.
Gukesh Dommaraju scored three wins against two wins for Ding, and nine draws in the 14 classical rounds of the tournament.
25.
Gukesh Dommaraju plays a reactive game and is notable for his ability to calculate under time pressure, which often leads to complex tactical battles in his games.
26.
Gukesh Dommaraju's style has borne comparison with former world champion Anatoly Karpov's incremental, anaconda-like gains.