Super GM at a sweet 16

D Gukesh, the 16-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai, became only the sixth Indian to reach and cross the coveted 2700 ELO ratings mark in chess. Following his victory against GM Le Quang Liam from Vietnam in the Biel Chess Festival (Classic) in Switzerland on Saturday to take his point tally to 2.5 in 3 games, the young grandmaster’s Live ELO ratings went up to 2703.9.

Only two other players – China’s Wei Yi (some months before turning 16) and Iranian-born French player Alireza Firouzja achieved this earlier than the 16 years and nearly 2 months old Gukesh, even as world champion Magnus Carlsen attained a FIDE rating of 2700 when he was 16 and a half years old. Note, this is a live rating; FIDE updates its ratings list every month and Gukesh would have to avoid setbacks for the live rating to stay above 2700 in the games he will have to play in the next 15 days.

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This is a significant milestone for Gukesh, as 2700 is considered unofficially the mark for a super-GM in chess. Only 128 players have crossed the 2700 rating mark among the 3,90,626 rated players recognised by FIDE and if Gukesh maintains the mark by the end of this month, FIDE will officially recognise him as the 129 ^th player to achieve it.

Players who achieved this mark early in their careers invariably went on to reach peak rating that are over 2750 and some such as Carlsen (peak live rating of 2882), Firouzja (2804), Fabiano Caruana (2844), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2819), Vladimir Kramnik (2817), Wesley So (2822), Ding Liren (2816) and Alexander Grischuk (2810) crossing the elite 2800 mark. This bodes well for Gukesh’s career as he progresses and gains experience.

Gukesh is among a cohort of Indian grandmaster youngsters which includes GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM R Praggananandhaa, GM Nihal Sarin and GM Raunak Sadhwani who have recently showcased their skills in their teens and have attained significant ELO ratings. While GMs Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin stole a march initially in their careers as prodigies with high ELO ratings at a tender age, GMs Arjun and Gukesh have had spectacular tournaments recently, propelling them above Nihal and Gukesh among junior GMs in the ratings tally. Gukesh in particular has been on a winning spree, capturing four tournament titles this year and reaching No 32 in the world chess rankings based on live ELO ratings.

All five of these youngsters including Gukesh are now representing India either in the “A” team (Arjun) or in the “B” team (Nihal, Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh and Raunak) in the upcoming Chess Olympiad from July 28 to August 10 in Chennai.

Source: 2700chess.com, FIDE