The 17-year-old teenage prodigy D. Gukesh ended Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand's 37-year reign as India's top chess player. Gukesh from Chennai defeated five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand in their first-ever match against each other. Gukesh won the rapid clash against Anand at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia 2023 on Friday. The rapid segment ended with both Gukesh and Anand tied on the fourth spot with 10 points out of a possible 18.
Gukesh, who defeated Mistradin Iskandarov in the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, got a live rating of 2755.9 to move up to world number 9 in the classic open category. Anand, who has a score of 2754.0 dropped to tenth place.
Anand has only dropped to second place in the live world rankings twice since 1986.
Gukesh is also the third Indian to enter the top 10 in the world after Anand and Pentala Harikrishna.
