Chess
D Gukesh goes past Viswanathan Anand to become new India number 1
D Gukesh looks set to end Viswanathan Anand's 37-year reign as India number one. This is just the 2nd time since 1986 that Anand has slipped to number 2 in the live world rankings.
Gukesh D
Viswanathan Anand's 37-year reign as India's top chess player in the live world rankings was brought to an end by the 17-year-old D Gukesh on Thursday.
Gukesh, who won his second round match against Mistradin Iskandarov in the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, reached a live rating of 2755.9 to rise to world number 9 in the classic open category. Anand, who is on 2754.0, dropped down to 10th.
If Gukesh can hold on to this ranking till next month, he will be the first Indian to overtake Anand in the world rankings since July 1986, back when there was no concept of live ratings. This is highly likely to happen as Anand is not playing at the moment.
Anand has been India’s top-ranked player in all published lists since January 1987. He first made it to the world’s top-10 in July 1991 and has been the undisputed king of Indian chess since then. He had dropped to India number 2 for a few hours in the live rankings in March 2016, when Pentala Harikrishna had briefly overtaken him.
Gukesh is also the third Indian to enter the top 10 in the world after Anand and Harikrishna.
