'It was Painful': Gukesh reveals the TURNING POINT which fired his historic win at FIDE Candidates

D Gukesh is the man of the moment as at 17 years he became the youngest player to emerge as contender for the Chess World Championship post his amazing triumph at the FIDE Candidates Championship in 2024. 

Competing in Toronto, the Chennai based Grandmaster managed to thwart of challenges from some of the top competitors as he steamrolled a lot of opponents winning five out of six.

In the final round match against Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh did have it tough but me managed to show immense composure to hold him to draw with black pieces. With other result also falling in his favour, Gukesh was crowned the youngest FIDE Candidates Champion and became only the second Indian Grandmaster after Vishwanathan Anand to qualify for the Chess World Championship final.

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Gukesh reveals the turning point in the tournament

Gukesh entered the tournament with a clear goal and focus to emerge victorious but after winning, he admitted that he wasn't sure till the last minute. 

In his post match conference, Gukesh revealed the match that proved to be the turning point for him in the tournament. 

Having steamrolled his opponents and emerging victorious in the early phase, Gukesh took on French GM Alireza Firouzja in his seventh game. 

As it turned out, Gukesh lost that matchup against Firouzja, but he admitted that it turned out to be the turning point for him in the tournament. 

He admitted that post the loss, he was very upset and felt the pain but took it as motivation and came back with an excellent mindset. 

“If I had to pinpoint a moment where I felt this could be my moment was probably after the seventh game, when I lost to Firouzja . I was obviously very upset that day. Even though I had a painful loss I was feeling at my absolute best. Maybe this loss gave me so much motivation. After the 7th round I really started to feel at my absolute best”, said Gukesh in his post match press conference. 

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Gukesh now has the opportunity to do something which Grandmasters like Gary Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen were not able to do. He can be the youngest ever World Champion at the age of 17.