D. Gukesh, who has gained the FIDE Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.
| Photo Credit: R. Senthilkumar
The frenzy at Chennai International airport early morning on April 25 for the arrival of the 17-year-old D. Gukesh, who had gained the FIDE Candidates chess tournament in Toronto, was surreal.
An enormous gathering—media individuals, college students sporting masks of {the teenager} and lecturers from the champion’s alma mater, Velammal, chess officers and members of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu–jostled with {the teenager} to get a glimpse of the boy of the second.
Amidst all the hullabaloo, Gukesh remained calm and composed exhibiting no indicators of journey weariness – he spent practically 18 hours on the flight from Toronto to Chennai with a transit in Dubai.
On going through his opponent on the World championship, Ding Liren of China, Gukesh mentioned he’s prepared for the battle with the World No. 1 Chinese. “Naturally, I didn’t get much time to think and discuss it. Yeah, we have played a few rapid games and some classical. Obviously, he’s a very strong player, quite universal. He’s been at the top for a long time. It will surely be exciting to play. But I think I’m ready for the challenge,” he informed The Hindu quickly after his arrival.
Gukesh mentioned he has no particular choice for the venue of the World championship scheduled in November-December. “I’m fine with playing anywhere. Obviously, it’ll be nice to play at home (Chennai). Wherever I play, the goal is to be focused and win the match.”
With hardly six months to arrange for the massive occasion, Gukesh has no time to relaxation on his laurels. The teen appears to have already deliberate his subsequent set of strikes. “There are already some tournaments I’ve decided to play. Mainly the Grand Chess Tour, which is a tour of five events. I’ll be in Warsaw, Poland in a couple of weeks,” he mentioned.
Certainly, it was not a straightforward tournament for the Chennai lad with world’s prime gamers together with Fabio Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura being the favourites to win the grueling tournament. After six attracts, Gukesh suffered his first defeat by the hands of Iran’s Alireza Firouja within the seventh spherical. The loss to the 20-year-old World No.6, actually spurred him to do higher, which confirmed the psychological fortitude of Gukesh.
“It was quite a painful loss for sure. But soon after that, I recovered. The next day was a rest day. I fortunately was in very good spirits. Even after the loss, I thought I had every chance to win this event.
According to the individual gold medal winner of the Chennai Olympiad, a win or a defeat doesn’t stay with him for a long time. “Win or defeat stays–they generally say, but it’s never been the case for me. I generally managed to recover whatever the result.”
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Gukesh singled out his unwavering focus as one of many principal causes for profitable the tournament. “I think the focus that I had and the kind of discipline I went throughout the three weeks. I had specific routines. I was very strict and made no compromises. I think that was very important,” he mentioned.
‘Seconds’ kind a serious a part of preparations for Candidates and Worlds. For Gukesh, it was no totally different. Gukesh’s ‘second’ and coach GM Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland was a serious supply of assist. “Obviously I had a bigger team than you could see, Gajewski is the main head coach. Each one had a different kind of role. Mostly, they were helping remotely. I don’t want to reveal the names but their help was unbelievable to me,” he mentioned.
The 17-year-old, the youngest-ever World championship Challenger, knew how large a victory it was for him and for the game as such. “Winning Candidates is, of course, very special. I hope a lot of people get inspired by it and take up chess. Many kids will get into the game. The general popularity and respect for chess will grow,” he mentioned.
Gukesh recalled the immense assist of WestBridge Capital, WACA (WestBridge Anand Chess Academy) and his coach Vishnu Prasanna. “I can’t really ask for more. Really grateful for their support,” he mentioned, whereas praising five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand for being an inspiration . “I can’t thank Vishy sir enough,” he remarked.