Replacing Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh becomes highest ranked Indian player at 4 in FIDE | Chess News
Chess player D Gukesh became the highest-ranked Indian on the FIDE rankings after he defeated German player Vincent Keymer in the Tata Steel Tournament in the Netherlands on Thursday. He has dethroned another Indian player Arjun Erigaisi to take the ranking.
Gukesh, who was awarded the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna recently, has amassed 2784 rating points, while Erigaisi, who was the highest-ranked Indian for a long time, has slipped to fifth with 2779.5 rating points.
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen continues to be the undisputed world No.1 with 2832.5 points, followed United States’ Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (2802) and country-mate Fabiano Caruana (2798).
Gukesh beats Vincent Keymer, who helped him become world champion
Keymer was part of Team Gukesh last month as the Indian became the youngest world champion in the hory of chess defeating Ding Liren.
At the World Championship in Singapore, Gukesh’s strategy was to tire out his opponent Ding extending matches as long as possible. That seemed to be the strategy employed Keymer in the game on Wednesday against Gukesh.
Keymer, in fact, is one of the two seconds of Team Gukesh competing at the Tata Steel event this year. Gukesh will take on his other second from the World Championship, Pentala Harikrishna, in Round 7 (Saturday).
Harikrishna and Keymer had played a role in Gukesh becoming the youngest world champion in hory beating Ding Liren in Singapore last month.
Earlier on in the tournament Gukesh was asked if the clashes against his seconds would be ‘special games’. The 18-year-old had said: “Once I get to the board, in general I don’t really care about the opponent, whether it’s a good friend or anyone.
It will be business as usual. We have developed a close bond over the year. I’m glad they’re playing in this tournament.”
(With agency inputs)
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