Born on May 29th, 2006 in Chennai into a Telugu family hailing from Andhra Pradesh. Gukesh’s father, Mr. Rajnikanth is an ENT surgeon, and his mother, Mrs. Padma is a microbiologist. At the age of 7, Gukesh started playing chess. He completed his studies at Velammal Vidyalaya School, Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai.
Gukesh began practicing and playing chess for one hour, three days a week, in 2013. After his chess teachers acknowledged his good performance, he began participating more often and playing weekend tournaments.
With the guidance of his mentor Mr. Vedant Mishra, he earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 and he remained the third youngest grandmaster in the history of chess.
His past achievements are as glorious as his current reign in the world of chess, he won one team and two individual gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024, as well as a bronze team medal.
At the age of 18, he became the youngest Candidates Tournament winner and, subsequently, the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion, having defeated Ding Liren 7+1⁄2 to 6+1⁄2 at the World Chess Championship 2024.
At the junior level, he is a multiple gold medalist at the World Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Chess Championship. Gukesh is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games.
