Chennai: “I want to become the world champion,” D. Gukesh said in January 2019 after becoming the second youngest grandmaster at the age of 12. Fast forward to April 2024, Gukesh has scripted history by winning the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Canada, becoming the youngest-ever challenger to the world title, beating the record set by Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov at the age of 20 in 1984.
Gukesh, 17, will face world champion Ding Liren in the match later this year and a victory in the match would make him the world champion.
“That will be the next huge goal in my career. As it is, Candidates is a huge tournament and winning the tournament itself is a huge one,” he told ThePrint.
His father Dr Rajinikanth said that the last two weeks have been a hectic one and that they are yet to come to a realisation of how big it is. “We always stood by his side. The two weeks have been so hectic. I think it will take time for me to sit and realise how big the achievement is,” Rajinikanth told ThePrint.
Throw🔙 to 2019 and the then 12-year-old 🇮🇳 Gukesh D: “I want to become the World Champion!”
At 17 years of age, @DGukesh is now one step away from his childhood dream of becoming World Champion; he just triumphed at the #FIDECandidates, becoming the youngest winner ever, and… pic.twitter.com/bcFXJAlJLf
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 25, 2024
The Chennai-born grandmaster, who started playing chess at the age of 7 at Velammal Vidyalaya just as an extracurricular activity, will now challenge the reigning world champion.
His first school coach Velavan recalled Gukesh as a calm and focused person but would yield to the pressure at the last minute in the early stage of his chess career.
“It was all in the initial stage. In the 11-round match, he would win the first nine and would lose the last two in the pressure. But, he has come a long way from losing to pressure to keeping himself cool, composed and winning the game,” said Velavan, chess coordinator at Velammal Vidyalaya.
It was in his school days that Gukesh won his first international game at the U-9 Asian Schools Chess Championship in 2015, earning him the Candidate Master title. Apart from winning the U-12 World Youth Chess Championship in 2018, he has also won five gold medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championships including individual rapid and blitz in the U-12.
In January 2019, Gukesh became the second youngest grandmaster — after Russian prodigy Sergey Karjakin — at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days. But in 2021, Abhimanyu Mishra of the US became the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 25 days.
In October 2022, Gukesh became the youngest player to beat the then world champion Magnus Carlsen at the Aim Chess Rapid tournament. He then went on to qualify for the 2024 Candidates tournament in December 2023, becoming the third youngest player after Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen to play in the competition.
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Extracurricular activity to challenging world champion
In the wee hours of Thursday, Gukesh along with his father returned to Chennai from Toronto. As they walked out of the exit gate, his schoolmates, friends and family thronged him with wishes and gifts.
“I did not expect this reception in the middle of the night. It means a lot,” he told ThePrint as he walked to his car to leave for his home.
From a person who won nine rounds before losing the last rounds to a grandmaster bouncing back after a seventh-round loss in Toronto, Gukesh said that is what he has learnt all these years from his experiences.
“It’s not that I have controlled my emotions. Even now, I feel the heat and the pressure, just that I don’t show them. In the Candidates tournament, I was confident of winning the game from the beginning, also, I know that was easier said than done,” Gukesh told ThePrint later on a call.
Stating that he was in good shape throughout the tournament, Gukesh said that the loss in the seventh round of his final game was a big blow for him. “However, I was able to bounce back as I was in a good frame of mind.”
He also advised everyone to take up chess as a sport. “If not professionally, people can take it up as a sport. There are a lot of advantages that you will realise even as you start playing it as a game.”
Asked about his secret of success, he said that he just loves the game. “It’s not about winning or losing the game, I just love the game and so I play it. I like the game because it is so complex. Yes, I like it for its complexity,” he said.
The teenager has been trained by chess professionals, right from his school chess coordinator Velavan to five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand.
Coach Vishnu Prasanna, who trained him from the age of 10, said that Gukesh was keen on playing the game on his own rather than other children.
“Most of them play on their own, and some start getting interested later. Gukesh was one who has been interested since his early days, and I felt it was easy to bring him on track. He always liked to play open games as he gets the chance to meet a lot of legendary players whom he had inspired from,” Prasanna said..
Asked about his coaches, Gukesh said that everybody has shaped him one way or the other. “Now Viswanathan Anand is training us. He is not just an inspiration and role model, but as a person, he has taken it upon himself to train and motivate the youngsters of our country. Without his support, we could not have reached this place,” Gukesh said.
Anand felt that Gukesh had handled the tension well and that it gave him a sensational result. “It was really a historic result and his victory will break all sorts of records,” he told ThePrint.
Gukesh’s mother Padma said her son was calm all the time. “But, as a mother, I can see the pressure he is taking up on him. One thing that I tell him every time is that even if he loses, nothing around us will change,” she said.
Gukesh does not have many friends and space to socialise with people as he has to juggle between chess and academics. “Some time ago, we enrolled him in a tennis academy, and now he has got a few friends there. He is now hanging out with them. I hope his pressure is relieved to an extent,” Padma felt.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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