D Gukesh withdraws from FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships in New York

The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships will be held from December 26-31.

Having recently become the youngest World Chess Champion, Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh has withdrawn from the upcoming FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships, to be held from December 26-31 in New York.

The Indian grandmaster, a mere 18-year-old, who wrested Ding Liren down in Singapore on Dec. 12, is officially crossed off the tournament participant list. His decision follows his historic world championship win a few weeks ago, in which he became the youngest world champion ever in tournament history.

The absence of Gukesh was confirmed by sources from chess world governing body — FIDE — which left a huge void in the competitive spectrum of the championship. The field will be headed by world No. #1 Magnus Carlsen, along with super-grandmasters Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura.

This will still mean there will be an Indian representative in Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa, keeping India well and truly in the fray.

Gukesh’s withdrawal comes after a crackling FIDE World Chess Championship campaign, where he earned a whopping prize money of Rs 11.45 crore after coming out on top against Ding Liren.

The ascent of the young grandmaster has been impressive. He was the then second-youngest player in chess history to become a grandmaster, having completed the feat at the age of 12. He won the under-12 World Youth Chess Championship in 2018 and was on India’s silver-medal-winning team at the 2022 Asian Games.

Also Read: A look at Gukesh Dommaraju’s journey to becoming youngest world chess champion

Brief Synopsis of FIDE Rapid & Blitz Championships in New York

The first U.S. FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships will be held in New York from Dec 26 to Dec 31.

Defending champion Magnus Carlsen will be playing in Open Rapid and Blitz tournaments. It is using a new knockout format for Blitz, 13 Swiss rounds, then top-eight single elimination.

The tournaments are divided into the Open and Women’s championships, and the rapid and blitz titles respectively. Played at historic venues around Wall Street, the championships boast a prize fund of nearly $1.5 million.

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