A 17-year-old Indian youth plays for the World Chess Championship title

The fact that an Indian won the Candidates Tournament in Toronto was – for purely probabilistic reasons – very realistic. Three of the eight candidates who competed in 14 rounds to see who would compete with China's Ding Liren, the world champion, for the world title later in the year, came from India. And with Domaraju Gokish, Hindi has already won. Nine points from 14 rounds means a half-point lead over experienced world champion Ian Nepomengaschi and Fabiano Caruana as well as experienced American Hikaru Nakamura.

Red tape seems to have played a secondary role in Toronto; Gokish is only 17 years old. Like Vishwanadan Anand, India's only world champion and World Cup hopeful so far, Jokesh comes from Chennai. Gokish had just started playing chess when he defeated Norwegian Magnus Carlsen Anand for the world title in Chennai in 2013. “I remember visiting the hall for a game,” says Gokish, who was just seven years old at the time. “It was a big thing. I had just started playing chess and then something big happened in my hometown. Jokish has long since surpassed his role model Anand in the world rankings. But there is still no lack of respect for Anand. “We are in completely different stages of our lives Professional. “It will take a long time to get to where Anand already was,” Gokish said.

The opportunity to become the youngest world champion ever

Now Jokish himself is playing for the world title. It is not yet clear where the world championship fight will take place. But the truth is that the confrontation between Ding Liren and Jokic is the first to win a World Cup without European participation. If Jokis defeats the Chinese, he will be the youngest world chess champion in history.

“I can find the best move myself.”

In 2018, when Jokic became U12 world champion, his father stopped working as a doctor and instead traveled with his son from one tournament to another. In 2019, Jokis was 17 days away from becoming the youngest grandmaster in chess history. In 2022, at the age of 16, he defeated then-world champion Magnus Carlsen in a game of rapid chess – no younger player has been able to defeat the Norwegian. Gokic is the second-youngest top player in history, the fourth-youngest player with an Elo rating over 2700 – and still the youngest of all the great talents striving for the best in the world. What distinguishes him from most other chess geniuses?: Gokish hardly works with computers and databases. An Indian is said to have once said: “I can find the best move on my own.”

China's Tan Zhong Yi won the Women's Candidates Championship. She will play against compatriot Ju Wenjun for the world title.