Gukesh Breaks Record: Youngest Player To Cross 2750 Rating

GM Gukesh D is expected to be the youngest player to have a published rating of 2750 in history when the next FIDE rating list comes out in 11 days (when he will be 17.17 years old). This news comes just off the heels of his countryman GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu breaking 2700 for the first time, a day ago. The sky seems to be the limit as India's teenage grandmasters continue to break records.

At 17 years, one month, and 21 days, Gukesh is the world number-11 on the live rating list and Indian number two. He closes in on Indian number-one GM Viswanathan Anand's 2754 rating. Anand, 53, has been India's highest-rated player since July 1986. (In 2016 GM Pentala Harikrishna became the Indian number-one on the live rating list, but Anand hasn't been surpassed in published rating for 37 years.)

GM Magnus Carlsen was the previous record-holder for youngest 2750, and GM Alireza Firouzja also made it at 17 years old. Firouzja is the youngest to break 2800 at the age of 18 and five months, the 14th player in history to do so.

Gukesh's achievement came in the last round of the Turkish Super League 2023 in Ankara, on International Chess Day. With zero losses, he went 7.5/10 and needed to win his final game against GM Klementy Sychev to break the record. He did, and it was his third consecutive victory over a grandmaster to finish the tournament.

Gukesh earned his grandmaster title in 2019. In July 2022, he achieved a live rating of 2700, becoming the fourth-youngest player to ever do so. His crowning achievement in the same year, though, was his eight-game winning streak at the 2022 Chess Olympiad on board one for India 2, where he jumped into the world top-20 after defeating super-GM Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces. 

Despite the historic start, Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Gukesh in round 10 and Uzbekistan won gold. India 2 finished with bronze.

In 2023, he participated in some of the strongest tournaments available with the world's best super-grandmasters, including Tata Steel Chess 2023 (finished tied 11-12th), the WR Chess Masters 2023 (tied first, but GM Levon Aronian won the rapid tiebreaks), the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament 2023 (tied second-fourth), Sharjah Chess Masters 2023 (tied second-eighth), Norway Chess 2023 (third), and the team event Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2023.

Our Türk Hava Yollari Spor Kulübü wins Türkiye Iş Bankasi Chess Super League 2023!
Personally got best 1st board medal,+7 rating points and crossed 2750 and World no.11 live
Thanks Turkish airlines sports club team for the opportunity🙏
Happy International Chess day! pic.twitter.com/d6JHxHIw5J

— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) July 20, 2023

In a written response, Gukesh shared that 2750 is not his target rating and that he didn't think too much about it. His goal in Turkey was to practice playing classical chess before the FIDE World Cup, which begins at the end of the month.