Super GM at Sweet 16

16-year-old grandmaster D Gukesh from Chennai has become the sixth Indian to reach the 2700 ELO rating mark in chess. GM Lee Quang Liam from Vietnam won the Biel Chess Festival (Classic) in Switzerland on Saturday, taking his point tally to 2.5 in 3 games, with the young grandmaster’s Live ELO ratings rising to 2703.9.

Only two other players – China’s Wei Yi (a few months before turning 16) and Iran-born French player Alireza Firouzza – achieved this earlier than Gukesh, who is 16 years and almost 2 months old, despite world champion Magnus Carlsen achieving a FIDE rating of 2700. He is 16 and a half years old. Note, this is a direct rating; FIDE updates its ratings list every month and Gukesh has to avoid setbacks for more than 2700 live rating in the games he will play in the next 15 days.

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

Players who have achieved this mark early in their careers have reached peak ratings of more than 2750 and include Carlsen (peak live rating 2882), Firouzza (2804), Fabiano Caruana (2844), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2819), Vladimir Kramnik (2817), Wesley So (2822), Ding Liren (2816) and Alexander Grischuk (2810) crossed the elite 2800 mark. This bodes well for Gukesh’s career advancement and gaining experience.

Gukesh is among the group of young Indian Grandmasters like GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM R Pragnananda, GM Nihal Sarin and GM Raunak Sadhwani who have recently showcased their skills in their teens and achieved significant ELO ratings. GMs Pragnananda and Nihal Sarin have become prodigies with high ELO ratings at a tender age in their careers, GMs Arjun and Gukesh have had excellent tournaments recently, ahead of Nihal and Pragnananda among the junior GMs in the ratings count. Notably, Gukesh has bagged four tournament titles this year and climbed to 32nd in the world chess rankings based on live ELO ratings.

These five youngsters, including Gukesh, are now representing India in either the “A” team (Arjun) or the “B” team (Nihal, Pragnanananda, Gukesh and Raunak) in the Chess Olympiad to be held in Chennai from July 28 to August 10. .

Source: 2700chess.com, FIDE