Garry Kasparov acknowledges D Gukesh’s historic victory

Russian chess great Garry Kasparov referred to Grandmaster D Gukesh’s victory as “the Indian earthquake in Toronto” and praised the teenage player for being the youngest contender to win the world championship. Kasparov claimed that this victory represents a “tectonic shift” in the worldwide order of the game.

Gukesh, 17, beat the mark set forty years earlier by none other than Kasparov. The Russian was the youngest challenger in 1984, when he qualified to face fellow countryman Anatoly Karpov, at the age of 22.

“Well done! In a subtle nod to the historical Russian dominance, Kasparov commented on “X” that “the Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world as the 17-year-old D Gukesh will face the Chinese champion Ding Liren for the highest title.”

In the tournament that determines who will challenge the world champion, Gukesh finished with nine points out of a potential fourteen after playing to a comfortable draw with American Hikaru Nakamura in the fourteenth and final round.

Gukesh will face China’s Liren, the current world champion, in the last quarter of the year as a result of his victory.

India has benefited from the five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand’s chess culture, as many of young people, mostly in their teens, are taking up the game.

“The ‘children’ of Vishy Anand are on the loose!” said Kasparov in recognition of Anand’s contribution to Indian chess.