Nine-year-old Gukesh

It is not widely known that, as a nine-year-old, Gukesh Dommaraju participated in the 13th Malaysia Chess Festival in 2015. Having left school to pursue chess full-time, Gukesh arrived in Kuala Lumpur with his parents in tow. Already a Candidate Master at the time, he competed in both the flagship IGB Arthur Tan Memorial Malaysia Open and the Swensen Age-Group Chess Tournament (Under-10 section).

In the Malaysia Open, he faced players who were not only far more experienced but often physically towering compared to himself. Undeterred, Gukesh battled them on equal footing, finishing a respectable 101st out of 138 participants. In the Under-10 age-group event with 145 players, he emerged triumphant, taking first place.

A lot has changed for Gukesh since 2015, he has achieved his dreams, but I wonder if he still remembers his early adventures here in Malaysia all those years ago. We’d love to have him back!

An update: Gukesh had also participated in the 15th Malaysia Chess Festival two years later. This time, he did not play in the age-group events but concentrated solely on the IGB Arthur Tan Memorial Malaysia Open. However, his results were indifferent and he finished disappointingly in 90th position out of 165 players. Two Malaysians managed to play with Gukesh: Sumant Subramaniam drawing with him in the eighth round while Lim Zhuo Ren beat him in the ninth. I'm sure Sumant and Zhuo Ren would now be relishing those results! Here's a picture of 11-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju from the 2018 souvenir book.  

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