List of Asian players to win FIDE World Chess Championship title

Gukesh D became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious chess tournament in 2024.

Gukesh Dommaraju created history by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship in the history of the tournament. The 18-year-old Indian defeated reigning World Champion Ding Liren China by 7.5-6.5 to win the title. Gukesh finished the World Championship with three round wins, compared to the two by Ding Liren.

Gukesh is now only the second Indian and fourth from Asia to have been crowned the undisputed world champion. Viswanathan Anand was the first Asian to win the worlds title in chess, a sport that has been historically dominated by Europeans and North Americans. ‘Vishy’, as the legendary Anand is often referred to, paved the path for the Asians to the top crown of chess. But who are the other Asians to have achieved this feat?

Let’s take a look at the list of all the Asian winners of FIDE World Chess Championships:

Asian winners of FIDE World Chess Championship

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand is a five-time world champion and the first-ever from Asia to have won the title. He achieved the feat by defeating Spain’s Alexei Shirov of Spain in the finals of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000. Anand had finally conquered the world of chess after faltering in the final stages twice before, in 1995 to Garry Kasparov and in 1998 to Anatoly Karpov.

Anand went on to win the title again in the 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions. His final two appearances in the FIDE Chess World Championship saw him lose to another great of the sport, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

The second Asian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship title was Uzbekistan’s Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Rustam was a long-time second to the five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, helping him prepare for three of his World Championship titles.

Seeded 28th among 128 participants at the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship, Rustam raised eyebrows by beating the likes of Vasyl Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov and Alexander Grischuk. He defeated English Grandmaster Michael Adams in the final to win the title. Rustam finished joint 6th/7thin the eight-player FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 edition.

Also Read: Top six youngest winners in FIDE World Chess Championship history

Ding Liren

Ding Liren became the third Asian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship when he beat Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi. However, that wouldn’t have been the case had Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Champion at the time, decided not to defend his title against the Russian.

So, the FIDE allowed Ding Liren, who finished second in the Candidates 2023, behind Ian to compete in the World Championship.

Interestingly, Ding Liren could only compete at the Candidates 2023 because Sergey Karjakin was sanctioned and prevented from competing in the Candidates for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ding Liren failed to defend his title in the following year, losing to Gukesh Dommaraju of India.

Also Read: Top five greatest Indian chess players of all-time

Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh D is the latest entrant on the list of Asian chess world champions. He achieved the feat, as aforementioned, by beating Ding Liren of China. Gukesh is also the third youngest Grandmaster in the history of the sport. He is also the youngest-ever to surpass the 2750 ELO rating.

The now reigning world champion qualified for the FIDE World Chess Championships by winning the Candidates 2024, a tournament he reached by being the highest-placed player in the FIDE Circuit 2023. By winning the Candidates 2024, Gukesh also became the youngest-ever Grandmaster to win the Candidates tournament.

Gukesh Dommaraju was the Asian Player of the Year in 2023, an award bestowed to him by the Asian Chess Federation.

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