Gukesh D Height, Weight, Age, Family, Birthday, Facts

Gukesh D is an Indian chess player who, in 2019, became the 60th player from India to have attained the title of ‘Grandmaster’ (a title awarded by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs, an organization based in Switzerland that acts as the governing body of international chess) that is the highest a chess player can attain (other than a world championship) and is held for life). As of July 2023, he was the 3rd youngest person in history – behind Abhimanyu Mishra of the United States (who achieved it in 2021) and Sergey Karjakin (2003), Sergey was representing Ukraine when he became a ‘Grandmaster’ but has turned out for Russia since 2009 – to have qualified for the title of ‘Grandmaster’. Gukesh had missed beating Sergey’s long-standing record of being the youngest ‘Grandmaster’ in history by just 17 days. In July 2022, he became just the 6th Indian to have breached the magical 2,700 Elo rating (a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess) mark – after Viswanathan Anand, Krishnan Sasikiran, Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, and Adhiban Baskaran. At that time, Gukesh was the youngest Indian (and the 3rd youngest overall – after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja) to have breached the 2,700 Elo rating mark. In July 2023, he achieved his peak position (until then) of 13 in the FIDE men’s world rankings. The same month, he earned his peak FIDE rating (until then) of 2,744.

Born Name

Dommaraju Gukesh

Nick Name

Gukesh D, Guki, Guki Monster

Sun Sign

Gemini

Born Place

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Residence

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Nationality

Education

Gukesh had attended the Velammal Vidyalaya in his hometown of Chennai.

Occupation

Chess Player

Family

• Father – Rajnikanth (ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) Surgeon)
• Mother – Padma Kumari (Microbiologist)

Build

Slim

Height

5 ft 8 in or 173 cm

Weight

67 kg or 147.5 lbs

Race / Ethnicity

Asian (Indian)

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Slender frame
• Side-parted, wavy hair
• Affable smile
• Sports a beard

Gukesh D Facts

1. Gukesh first came into the spotlight when he won the under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015. In 2018, he won the under-12 section of the World Youth Chess Championships.
2. The same year, he won 5 ‘Gold’ medals in the under-12 section of the Asian Youth Chess Championships – the individual rapid (more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player in a game that can be played with or without time increments for each move), the individual blitz (10 minutes or less for each player in a game that can be played with or without time increments for each move), the team rapid, the team blitz, and the individual classical (usually 90 minutes for the entire game, with a 30-second increment for each move played) events.
3. In August 2022, Gukesh began the 44th edition (the first held in India) of the Chess Olympiad (an international team chess event organized by FIDE) with a perfect score of 8/8. He finished with a score of 9/11 and earned the ‘Gold’ medal on the 1st board. The second Indian team (of which Gukesh was a part) that participated in this Chess Olympiad won the ‘Bronze’ medal.
4. This was just the 2nd instance of an Indian team winning a medal in the open section of an official and offline edition of the Chess Olympiad – the first such instance (also a ‘Bronze’ medal) was at the 41st Chess Olympiad held in 2014.
5. The 2022 edition of the Chess Olympiad was also the first where India won the ‘Gaprindashvili Trophy’ (named after former women’s world champion Nona Gaprindashvili (of Georgia) and presented, since 1998, to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women’s divisions combined).
6. In October 2022, aged just 16, Gukesh became the youngest player ever to have defeated the then-world champion Magnus Carlsen (since Magnus became the world champion in 2013). He achieved the feat in a game during the Aimchess Rapid Tournament.
7. In February 2023, he finished with a score of 5.5/9 in the inaugural edition of the WR Masters tournament, tying for first place with established stars like Levon Aronian and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Gukesh eventually finished in 2nd place (behind Levon), after the tiebreaks.
8. In August 2023, Gukesh was ranked the 11th top player in the FIDE rankings with a rating of 2,751. With this, he became the youngest player in chess history to cross 2,750 rating.

Featured Image by Gukesh D / Instagram