From Boy to Man to Challenger

Gukesh Dommaraju became the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship when the then 17 year old won the Candidates Tournament in Toronto earlier that year, ahead of favourites including Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi. A year earlier Gukesh wasn't so well known in the West, even though the chess prodigy had been consistently breaking records:

• Gukesh was the second-youngest Grandmaster in chess history, missing being the youngest-ever by only 17 days.
• He was the fourth-youngest player to shatter the stratospheric 2700 rating barrier.
• He was the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates cycle at age 17, making him the youngest challenger in a World Chess Championship match.

Gukesh's style and strategic mastery much resemble those of the young Anatoly Karpov. He wins imperceptibly, where every 12 moves or so you notice his position improving, seemingly without having done anything! Gukesh seeks to smother his opponent's intentions in the crib, before they have a chance to grow into actual threats.

In 70 fully annotated games, this book covers Gukesh's fiercest battles against many of the world's top players. Opponents include world champions Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as other world-class players such as Caruana, Nepo, Nakamura, Giri, Firouzja, Vidit, and his long-standing rival Praggnanandhaa among others. Seven games are taken from the Toronto Candidates Tournament.

International Master Cyrus Lakdawala was born in Mumbai, India, in 1960, moved to Montreal, Canada, in 1966, and later moved at age 18 to San Diego, California, where he continues to reside. He reached a peak USCF rating of 2597 in 1994 and obtained the IM title in 2002. He is a a 6-time Southern California State Champion and won the San Diego Chess Club Championship 23 times.

Cyrus began writing chess books in 2009 and since then has written 77 books, making him the most prolific chess writer in the world. He continues to coach and two of his students have also become IMs. This is his first book for Elk and Ruby.