UPSC Prelims 2025 Q100: Gukesh and Abhimanyu Mishra — Explained
Consider the following statements:
I. In the finals of the 45th Chess Olympiad held in 2024, Gukesh Dommaraju became the world's youngest winner after defeating the Russian player Ian Nepomniachtchi.
II. Abhimanyu Mishra, an American chess player, holds the record of becoming world's youngest ever Grandmaster.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- I only
- II only
- Both I and II
- Neither I nor II
Answer: (b) II only
Statement-wise explanation
- I: incorrect — The Chess Olympiad is a team event played over 11 rounds on the Swiss system. It has no final and no individual champion. At the 45th Olympiad (Budapest, September 2024), Gukesh played board 1 for India's gold-winning Open team and won the individual board-1 gold with 9/10. He became the youngest world champion later, on 12 December 2024, at the FIDE World Championship match in Singapore, where he beat Ding Liren of China, not Ian Nepomniachtchi.
- II: correct — Abhimanyu Mishra of New Jersey, USA, an American player of Indian origin, earned his final Grandmaster norm on 30 June 2021 at a tournament in Budapest. He was 12 years, 4 months and 25 days old. This broke Sergey Karjakin's record from 2002, set at 12 years and 7 months, by about two months. Nobody had broken Mishra's record by the 2025 exam.
How to eliminate
Statement I mixes three real events into one false claim: the 2024 Olympiad, Gukesh's world title in December 2024, and Nepomniachtchi, who played Gukesh in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. Two checks from basic knowledge rule it out. First, an Olympiad is a team event between countries, so it cannot have a 'final' that makes one player the 'world's youngest winner'. Second, FIDE has barred Russian teams from its events since 2022, so a Russian could not have played an Olympiad final in 2024. Once Statement I is out, only two answers remain: II only, or neither. To choose between them you need one fact: the youngest-ever Grandmaster is Abhimanyu Mishra of the USA (2021, 12 years 4 months). Watch for this pattern in sports current-affairs questions, where UPSC swaps the event or the opponent while keeping the right names.
Know more
Chess titles and events: what's what
| Event / title | Format | Key 2024–25 fact |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Olympiad | Team event for countries, held every two years, 11 rounds, Open and Women's sections | 45th edition, Budapest, Sept 2024: India won gold in both sections for the first time |
| Candidates Tournament | 8-player round robin that picks the challenger | Toronto, April 2024: Gukesh won at 17, ahead of Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Caruana |
| World Championship match | One-on-one match, champion vs challenger | Singapore, Dec 2024: Gukesh beat Ding Liren 7.5–6.5 at 18 and became the 18th world champion |
| Grandmaster (GM) | Lifetime FIDE title: three GM norms plus a 2500 rating | Youngest ever: Abhimanyu Mishra (USA), 12 y 4 m 25 d, June 2021 |
Records to remember
- Youngest world champion: Gukesh D (18), taking the record from Garry Kasparov, who won in 1985 at 22.
- Youngest GM: Abhimanyu Mishra (2021), ahead of Sergey Karjakin (2002, 12 y 7 m). The youngest Indian GMs include Gukesh (12 y 7 m 17 d, 2019) and R. Praggnanandhaa (2018).
- India at the 2024 Olympiad: the Open team (Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, P. Harikrishna) beat Slovenia in the last round. The Women's team (Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev) beat Azerbaijan. India also won the Gaprindashvili Cup for the best combined result. Gukesh (board 1) and Arjun Erigaisi (board 3) won individual board golds.
- India hosted the 44th Olympiad at Mamallapuram, Chennai, in 2022.
A quick rule: Olympiad means team and country. World Championship means a two-player match. Grandmaster is a title, not an event.
In the news
In 2024 India won its first Chess Olympiad gold in both sections at Budapest (September), and Gukesh became the youngest world champion in Singapore (December). Both were major headlines before the 2025 Prelims. UPSC built a trap statement by blending the two events with Gukesh's Candidates rival, Nepomniachtchi.