Candidates Chess: 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh creates history, becomes second Indian after Vishwanathan Anand to win Candidates Chess

India's 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh created history by winning the Candidates Chess Tournament here and became the youngest challenger for the world title. Later this year he will face current world champion Ding Liren of China for the crown. Gukesh earned nine points out of a possible 14 here after drawing his final round game against American Hikaru Nakamura. He became the second Indian after the great Vishwanathan Anand to win the candidates. Five-time world champion Anand's victory came in 2014.

Anand posted on Very proud of Roop. Enjoy this moment." To congratulate the young man who likes him, he is also from Chennai.

The Indian needed the last game between Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and top-seeded American Fabiano Caruana to end in a draw and that's exactly how things worked out. If either of these two players had won, the tournament would have required a tie-break as Gukesh and the winner would have been in joint lead. Gukesh has been making waves for quite some time now and became the first player in the history of chess to win the Grandmaster title at the age of 12. He has become the third youngest player to do so. Last year, he had won a silver medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games. The dates and venue of the World Championship have not been decided yet.