New Delhi
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh won the title by defeating China’s Ding Liren in the 14th and final round of the World Chess Championship. By defeating Liren, he became the youngest world chess champion. At the age of 18 he created history. The game started with 6.5 points. The final match also seemed to be heading towards a draw when one mistake of Liren cost him dearly and gave victory to Gukesh. The Indian young star won the world title by defeating Liren 7.5-6-5. After 12 years, an Indian has succeeded in capturing this title.
Gukesh created history by winning this title at the age of 18 years, eight months and 14 days. He broke the record of Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22 years, six months and 27 days. Before Gukesh, India’s Vishwanathan Anand (2000-2002 and 2007-2013) was the World Chess Champion. The end of the year has been great for Gukesh. This year he won several more titles, including the Candidates 2024 tournament and the Chess Olympiad, in which he won the gold medal.
Gukesh has shocked the world many times
The new sensation of the chess world, 17-year-old Gukesh has surprised the world many times in his career. He has made many records at this young age. He became India’s youngest Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, seven months, 17 days and missed the tag of the world’s youngest Grandmaster by just 17 days. He overtook five-time world champion Vishwanathan Anand last year to become the country’s top-ranked player for the first time in 36 years. Now he has added another achievement to that impressive list. By winning the Candidates Chess Tournament, Gukesh became the youngest challenger for the world title, breaking the record set by the great Garry Kasparov 40 years ago. Former Russian great Kasparov was 22 when he qualified for a clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov in 1984.
Gukesh stayed away from technical engines, prepared for such
Gukesh’s identity remained hidden among the players in India who achieved stardom with little achievement till he crossed the rating of 2500 in his career. He stayed away from technical engines and minimally used computers for his preparation. This method of Gukesh was also praised by India’s greatest chess player Vishwanathan Anand. He once said in an interview – Gukesh is one of the few players in the world with this kind of thinking, who was not a star despite being at the top of his game. This is a very healthy approach. The important thing was that he did not take any direct approach but took the help of his trainer. It should happen like this only. A player should focus on playing skills and the trainer can give them the best information.
Vishnu gave world class recognition to Gukesh
Vishnu Prasanna, who gave world-class recognition to Gukesh, himself admits that it was a risky step. He says that our aim was to be very precise and develop our own skills for chess. When you’re playing a game, you’re not always completely sure. But if you are always checking with the computer then it gives you a clear definition whether a move is good or bad. To keep away that confused mentality, we adopted that method. This was an experiment. We didn’t know how it would work. I thought it would be a useful experiment and since it never stabilized, we continued it.
Gukesh’s passion to become number one
Vishnu said- We did not face any problem. He was very close to becoming the world’s youngest Grandmaster. It is difficult to say whether working with engines (computers) would have improved our chances or not (Jo Gukesh missed the record of becoming the world’s youngest grandmaster by 17 days). We thought he was playing well. Coming so close to that record is proof in itself that he was doing well. Also what are the aspects that make Gukesh so good? Talking about this, Vishnu said- He is very passionate about his sport. He doesn’t think about anything else. Just focused on one goal. It’s a definite passion. Of all the children I have worked with, none have shown the passion that Gukesh has shown. The passion about the game and the obsession with becoming number one.
Started working with Vishnu in 2017
Gukesh started working with Vishnu in 2017, when he was barely 11 years old. However, in those early days, Vishnu inspired Gukesh to become world number one and world champion. Vishnu says- Initially we used to talk about becoming world champion and number one. He must have been 10 and a half or 11 years old. He is really a fantastic athlete. We thought about the conditions like playing at the top level. I myself used to talk to him because his ambitions were clear to me even at that age.
