D. Gukesh: In a notable milestone, 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh has overtaken his idol, Viswanathan Anand, in the real-time world rankings maintained by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). This remarkable feat was accomplished following Gukesh’s triumph over Misratdin Iskandarov of Azerbaijan in a second-round encounter at the World Cup.
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D Gukesh topples the ratings
Gukesh showcased his exceptional skills by outplaying Iskandarov in a mere 44 moves. With this impressive performance, he earned 2.5 rating points, elevating his live rating to 2755.9, surpassing Anand’s rating of 2754.0. As a result, Gukesh has climbed to the ninth position in the world live rankings, while the five-time World Champion Anand now holds the 10th spot.
FIDE in a tweet stated, “Gukesh D won again today and has overcome Viswanathan Anand in live rating! There is still almost a month till next official FIDE rating list on September 1, but it’s highly likely that 17-year-old will be making it to top 10 in the world as the highest-rated Indian player.”
Anand’s historic record broken
Anand, who made his debut in the World’s top-10 rankings in July 1991, has held the title of India’s highest-ranked player since January 1987. Nevertheless, Gukesh’s recent outstanding performance hints at a potential change in this long-standing record. If Gukesh maintains his lead over Anand until September 1, he will become the first Indian to surpass Anand in the FIDE world rankings since Pravin Thipsay accomplished it in July 1986.
In the upcoming third round of the tournament, Gukesh is scheduled to compete against fellow Indian player S L Narayanan. Besides Gukesh, other Indian players like GM R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, D Harika, and R Vaishali have also progressed to the third round. However, Indian GM B Adhiban faced elimination after a defeat against Daniil Dubov. On the other hand, Karthik Venkataraman managed to force a tie-break against No.2 seed Hikaru Nakamura.
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