Gukesh Debuts in a WCC Cycle and in TWIC

In a recent post, 2024 Ding Liren - Gukesh, the Players (November 2024), I promised, '[In 2022-23] I featured Ding Liren [so] I'll start a similar series for Gukesh in a few days.' And here we are.

That Ding Liren series started with one post on his rise to the World Championship and one post on his early mentions in TWIC. Here I'll combine those two ideas into a single post. The following screen capture shows Gukesh's participation in World Championship qualifying events prior to the current cycle.

Index of players (A-G), with links to the different events (m-w.com)

Along with the two Grand Swiss events ('Gr.Sw.'), Gukesh played in the 2021 World Cup; Sochi (m-w.com), where he was eliminated in the second round. My page on the qualifications to the event, (C30) Zonal Qualifiers 2020-2021 (ditto), isn't completely clear, but he qualified to the 2021 World Cup with a FIDE President wild card.

Gukesh also played in the 2023 World Cup where, according to my page (C31) Zonal Qualifiers 2022-2023 (m-w.com), he qualified on rating. Acording to Wikipedia's Chess World Cup 2023 (wikipedia.org), he was eliminated in the sixth (quarterfinal) round by Magnus Carlsen, who went on to win the event.

The first mention of Gukesh in TWIC was in 2016 when he was nine years old:-

THE WEEK IN CHESS 1109 8th February 2016 by Mark Crowther • IIFL Wealth Mumbai Open; Thu 28th Jan 2016; Fri 5th Feb 2016; Mumbai; IND; 113 Players; 9 Rounds; Swiss; Time Control: 90m:30m+30spm(1)

He was rated 2041 and finished 5.5-3.5. The second and third mentions in TWIC were nearly a year later:-

TWIC 1157 9th January 2017 • 2nd IIFL Wealth Mumbai Op; Mon 26th Dec 2016; Tue 3rd Jan 2017; Mumbai; IND; 9 Rounds; Swiss; Time Control: 90m:30m+30spm(1)

TWIC 1160 30th January 2017 • 9th Chennai Open 2017; Wed 18th Jan 2017; Wed 25th Jan 2017; Chennai; IND; 10 Rounds; Swiss; Time Control: 90m+30spm(1)

He was rated 2236 in both, finished 6.0-3.0 and 6.5-3.5 respectively, and was listed as a CM [Candidate Master] in the Chennai event. The next mentions in TWIC were six months later in Europe.

TWIC1186 31st July 2017 • 29th Cannes Summer Open; Mon 24th Jul 2017; Sun 30th Jul 2017; Cannes; FRA; 9 Rounds; Swiss; Time Control: 90m:30m+30spm(1)

TWIC1188 14th August 2017 • 43rd Badalona Open 2017; Wed 2nd Aug 2017; Thu 10th Aug 2017; Badalona; ESP; 9 Rounds; Swiss; Time Control: 90m+30spm(1)

He was rated 2365 in both and finished 5.0-4.0 and 5.5-3.5 respectively. The next mention in TWIC was later in 2017 at a tournament held in Asia outside India:-

TWIC 1197 16th October 2017 • 1st Puchong Friday IM Oct; Sat 7th Oct 2017; Wed 11th Oct 2017; Puchong; MAS [Malaysia]; 10 Players; 9 Rounds; SRR [Single Round Robin]; Time Control: 90m:30m+30spm(1)

TWIC added, 'D Gukesh won with 7/9.' He was rated 2323 and still listed as a CM. Wikipedia, in Gukesh Dommaraju (wikipedia.org; 'born 29 May 2006, also known as Gukesh D, is an Indian chess grandmaster'), mentions an earlier tournament than recorded in TWIC:-

Gukesh won the Under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015

Chessgames.com, in The chess games of Dommaraju Gukesh (chessgames.com), informs,

Candidate Master (2015); International Master (2018); Grandmaster (2019). Gukesh won his Candidate Master title at the Asian U9 Asian Schools Championship in 2015.

The site's earliest games are one from each of two 2016 events: the 2016 IIFL Mumbai Open and the '9th Mayors Cup Open (2016), Mumbai IND, rd 8, Jun-07'.