Gukesh Dommaraju is probably the most popular name in India right now after the 18-year-old recently became Singapore’s youngest world chess champion. The Indian Grandmaster defeated defending champion Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship to become the second Indian to achieve such a feat. Viswanathan Anand, one of Gandhi’s idols, is the other Indian, having won the World Cup five times.
Gukesh qualified for a showdown with Liren after winning the Candidates Tournament. The match reached the decisive fourteenth game, and it looked like Liren would successfully force a tiebreaker. But a massive blunder by the Chinese Grandmaster in the 55th move saw him resign and concede to Gukesh in a historic defeat.
After winning the World Championship, Gukesh has returned to India and has reportedly taken a break. He decided to skip the year-ending FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship. He will return to action next year, and is set to face chess legend Anand. He will also face world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi in multiple matches.
Here are the tournaments where D Gukesh is confirmed to participate:
Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 (January 17-February 2)
Gukesh will begin his 2025 campaign with the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, which will take place at the Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The tournament will feature Anish Giri, Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, and R Praggnanandhaa. Gukesh came second last year, with China’s Wei Yi coming in first.
Germany leg of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 (February 7-14)
It has been confirmed that Gukesh will participate in the first tournament of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 in Germany. He will face Anand in this tournament and take on Magnus Carlsen, who has been downplaying his World Chess Championship victory. The other nine confirmed players are Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Levon Aronian and Vincent Keymer.
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 will feature five tournaments, with the first in Germany. The remaining four will occur in Paris, New York, Delhi, and Cape Town. Gukesh hasn’t confirmed his participation for the other tournaments.
Gukesh didn’t participate at the Norway Chess tournament in 2024. But he will take part in the tournament this year, and is set to face Carlsen, who is also the defending champion. Other than Carlsen, Gukesh will also take on Erigaisi.
