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The frenzy at Chennai International airport early morning on April 25 for the arrival of the 17-year-old D. Gukesh, who had won the FIDE Candidates chess tournament in Toronto, was surreal.
A huge gathering—media persons, students wearing masks of the teenager and teachers from the champion’s alma mater, Velammal, chess officials and members of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu--jostled with the teenager to get a glimpse of the boy of the moment.
Amidst all the hullabaloo, Gukesh remained calm and composed showing no signs of travel weariness - he spent nearly 18 hours on the flight from Toronto to Chennai with a transit in Dubai.
On facing his opponent at the World championship, Ding Liren of China, Gukesh said he is ready 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 told The Hindu soon after his arrival.
Gukesh said he has no special preference 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 prepare for the big event, Gukesh has no time to rest on his laurels. The youngster seems to have already planned his next set of moves. “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 said.
Certainly, it was not an easy tournament for the Chennai lad with world’s top players including Fabio Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura being the favourites to win the grueling tournament. After six draws, Gukesh suffered his first defeat at the hands of Iran’s Alireza Firouja in the seventh round. The loss to the 20-year-old World No.6, in fact spurred him to do better, which showed the mental 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 the main reasons for winning 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 said.
‘Seconds’ form a major part of preparations for Candidates and Worlds. For Gukesh, it was no different. Gukesh’s ‘second’ and trainer GM Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland was a major source of help. “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 said.
The 17-year-old, the youngest-ever World championship Challenger, knew how big a victory it was for him and for the sport 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 said.
Gukesh recalled the immense support 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 said, while praising five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand for being an inspiration . “I can’t thank Vishy sir enough,” he remarked.
