Gukesh is spearheading India’s rise: Anand on the teenager overtaking him in FIDE ranking
The HinduChess legend Viswanathan Anand on Saturday described 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh overtaking him as the highest-rated Indian player in FIDE rankings as a “historic” achievement and said the teenager is spearheading the country’s rise in the sport. On Thursday, Gukesh posted a win over Azerbaijan’s Misratdin Iskandarov in a second-round match of the World Cup in Baku to overtake his idol Anand in the live world rankings. “So, a wonderful day for Indian chess and it is nice to look back and see how far we have come.” After Gukesh outclassed Iskandarov of Azerbaijan in 44 moves in the second game of their second-round match, the International Chess Federation said in a social media post that the teenager has overtaken Anand in live rating. “There is still almost a month till next official FIDE rating list comes on September 1, but it’s highly likely that 17-year-old will be making it to top 10 in the world as the highest-rated Indian player,” the FIDE had said.