Dommaraju Gukesh booked his spot in the FIDE Candidates 2024, through FIDE Circuit, which will take place in Toronto from April 2 to 25 next year.
The 17-year-old from Chennai preserved the second position in the standings after his main competitors, Anish Giri and Arjun Erigaisi did not manage to improve their score in the last point-heavy event of the year, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“Qualifying for the Candidates was surely the most important goal for me this year. I was already thinking about it the previous year, and I really wanted it make it this year,” Gukesh was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“Surely, it’s a huge achievement for me, as it would be for any chess player. It’s a dream tournament, and I’ll try to give my best at the Candidates,” he added.
For the first time in history, three Indian players will compete in the FIDECandidates as D Gukesh joins compatriots R Praggnanandhaa (a World Cup finalist) and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (the winner of FIDE Grand Swiss), who qualified for the Candidates 2024 earlier this year.
“At some point, I was in a really good place (to qualify for the Candidates) but then, partly because of the pressure I think, I slipped a bit. It looked very unlikely that I’ll make it. But the Chennai tournament was a very important one, and I’m very happy that I managed to give a clutch performance there and make it to the Candidates,” Gukesh said.
“It’s very nice that there will be three Indians at the Candidates. It’s a huge achievement for Indian chess in general. Indian chess seems to be going in a very good direction. I hope that it will be even better in the future,” he added.
Comments
0 comment