Gukesh wins Candidates, becomes youngest ever challenger for world title
Toronto (PTI): India's 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh scripted history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament here to become the youngest ever challenger to the world title, bettering a record created by the legendary Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.
Gukesh played out an easy draw with American Hikaru Nakamura in the 14th and final round to finish with nine out of a possible 14 points in the tournament that is held to decide the challenger to the world champion.
The triumph entitles Gukesh a clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China in the last quarter of the year.
The Chennai-based teen bettered Kasparov's record by quite a distance as the Russian great was 22 when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov.
"So relieved and so happy. I was following this crazy game (between Fabio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi), and then I went for a walk with my second (Gregorz Gazevsky), I think that helped," Gukesh said after winning.
Gukesh also won a cash award of 88,500 Euros (approx Rs 78.5 lakh). The total prize fund of the Candidates was 5,00,000 Euros.
He became only the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament. Five-time world champion Anand's triumph came in 2014.
"Congratulations to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger. The @WacaChess family is so proud of what you have done . I'm personally very proud of how you played and handled tough situations. Enjoy the moment," Anand posted on 'X' to congratulate the youngster, who like him, also hails from Chennai.
Needing at least a draw, Gukesh gave nothing away to Nakamura, a clear signal that the teenager is ready for the big stage and is going to be the next biggest star in the chess world.
The black pieces did not matter much as Nakamura was at sea in the Queen's Gambit Accepted and did not find any ways to pursue playing for an advantage.
Gukesh won a pawn and Nakamura had to find the path to equality in the ensuing rook and opposite coloured Bishops endgame. The game lasted till move 71 but the result was never in doubt.
With Gukesh ending on 9 points, all eyes were on the match between American Caruana and Russia's Nepomniachtchi.
The American outplayed Nepomniachtchi right from the opening and enjoyed a nearly winning position for several moves.
However, the clock did the talking here as Caruana blundered on 39th move to allow a playable position.
Things were far from over though, Caruana built his position all over again and was close to winning a second time when again his clock deceived him and he failed to find the correct continuation.
The resulting position was a drawn queen and pawns endgame where Caruana kept pressing to no avail.
Had any of these two players won, the tournament would have needed a tie-break as Gukesh and the winner would have ended up in joint lead.
Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura all ended on an identical 8.5 points for the shared second place while Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa ended fifth on seven points defeating Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan.
Vidit Gujrathi played out a quick draw with Firouzja Alireza of France in the final round to end on the sixth spot with six points in all.
Alireza finished seventh on five points while Abasov ended last on 3.5 points in all.
Gukesh has been making waves for a while now after becoming the third youngest in chess history to earn the Grandmaster title at the age of 12.
Last year, he won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The dates and venue for the world championship are yet to be finalised.
Results final round (Indians unless specified):
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 8.5) drew with D Gukesh (9); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 8.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE, 8.5); Nijat Abasov (Aze, 3.5) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (7); Firouza Alireza (Fra, 5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (6). Final standings: 1. D Gukesh 2-4: Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Caruana 5. Pragnanandhaa 6. Gujrathi 7. Alireza 8. Abasov.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Special court in Pune sentences two to life imprisonment, acquits three in Dabholkar murder case
Pune (PTI): A special court for UAPA cases in Maharashtra’s Pune on Friday convicted and sentenced two men to life imprisonment and acquitted three, including key accused Virendrasinh Tawde, in the murder of well-known rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar.
Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead while on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
Reading out the order in a packed courtroom, Additional Sessions Judge (Special Court) P P Jadhav said that the prosecution had proved the charges of murder and conspiracy against Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and they have been awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Andure and Kalaskar had shot Dabholkar.
The court acquitted accused ENT surgeon Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave for want of evidence.
The prosecution examined 20 witnesses while the defence examined two witnesses during the trial. The accused were opposed to Dabholkar's crusade against superstition, it had stated in its final arguments.
Pune police initially probed the case. The CBI took over the probe in 2014 following a Bombay High Court, order and arrested Tawde linked to the Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, in June 2016.
According to the prosecution, Tawde was one of the masterminds of the murder.
Sanatan Sanstha, to which Tawde and some of the other accused were linked, was opposed to the work carried out by Dabholkar's organisation, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (committee for eradication of superstition, Maharashtra), it claimed.
The CBI first named fugitives Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters in its charge sheet. But later it arrested Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, and claimed in a supplementary charge sheet that they had shot Dabholkar.
Subsequently, the central agency arrested advocate Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave as alleged co-conspirators.
During the trial, advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, one of the defence lawyers, had questioned the CBI's flip-flop over the shooters' identity.
The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120 B (conspiracy ), 302 (murder), relevant sections of the Arms Act, and section 16 (Punishment for terrorist act ) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.
While Tawde, Andure and Kalaskar are in jail, Punalekar and Bhave are out on bail.
Dabholkar's murder was followed by the murders of three other rationalists/activists in the next four years: communist leader Govind Pansare (Kolhapur, February 2015), Kannada scholar and writer M M Kalburgi (Dharwad, August 2015) and journalist Gauri Lankesh (Bengaluru, September 2017).
It was suspected that the culprits in these four cases were linked to each other.
