D Gukesh: Youngest to beat World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen

Indian Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has defeated Magnus Carlsen in the ninth round of the preliminary phase of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament.

The 16-year old from Chennai beat the world No.1 with white pieces in 29 moves early on Monday to move up to third position in the tournament.

Gukesh became the latest Indian teen to defeat Carlsen - World Chess Champion since 2013 - in recent times. A day earlier 19-year old compatriot Arjun Erigaisi posted a maiden win over the world champion. Another Indian teen, R Praggnanandhaa aged 16 years, has already beaten Carlsen twice this year.


Gukesh - at 16 years 4 months 20 days - also became the youngest Indian player to defeat Carlsen. Praggnanandhaa was 16 years 6 months and 10 days old when he defeated the world No.1.

"Gukesh just became the youngest player to ever beat Magnus after he became WC! Hats off to the 16-Year-Old Indian superstar," Meltwater Champions Chess Tour of which the Aimchess Rapid event is a part of, said on its Twitter feed.

Gukesh is now third behind Poland's Jan-Krzystof Duda (25 points) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 23 points) with 21 points after the 12th round.

Erigaisi has as many points (21) as Gukesh and is in fourth as the race for the spot in the knockout phase gets closer.

World champion Carlsen is in in fifth spot after having a quiet day. After losing to Gukesh, he drew against Harikrishna and world rapid champion Nodirkbek Abdusattorov and ended with a win over Daniel Naroditsky.

As for the other Indians: Vidit Gujrathi lies in 10th spot and out of the qualification range; Aditya Mittal (12 points) is in 12th place; and Harikrishna is 15th after 12 rounds of play and is out of contention.

“Beating Magnus is always special, but I was not very proud of that game," PTI quoted Gukesh as saying after that impressive win.