After 18 days, 635 moves and 56 hours of exhausting war waged over the chess board in Singapore, Gukesh Dommaraju has allowed himself a small break from playing chess. It’s not voluntary. Becoming the youngest world champion in history has come with its own set of demands on his time: from the media, politicians and well-wishers.
That’s why in the 10 days since Gukesh became the world champion, he’s spent more time away from the board than he had allowed himself the luxury of doing in the past decade.
“The last few days I’ve just been trying to relax and refresh my mind and body because the whole of last year has been very intense. There was a lot of discipline and hard work required. So I’m trying to take it easy now. But I will be getting back to chess pretty soon,” Gukesh tells The Indian Express while he’s in transit from one public appearance to another. “I already feel the enthusiasm to get back to chess and play in the next tournament, but I think it’s clever to take some time off to recuperate and then get back to chess.”
Becoming the world champion is something Gukesh called his “reason to wake up every morning” at a press conference in Singapore. For a boy who has been powered by a singular childhood dream for a decade, you wonder if the teenager is currently experiencing something bordering a motivational void. It’s a feeling that Abhinav Bindra experienced in full measure after he became an Olympic champion in Beijing 2008: a feeling of being completely lost besides being emotionally and mentally drained.
“I don’t feel a lack of motivation of any kind. I love Abhinav Bindra’s autobiography, A Shot At History. I’m really inspired by him. But I think our cases are a bit different because the Olympics is pretty much the highest target you can have in his sport. They prepare for the Olympics for four years. I mean, the World Chess Championship is also pretty high in chess. But for me, the goal has always been to become the best player in the world and since it’s still a long journey and there will be a lot of challenges, it’s easier to motivate myself,” says Gukesh, who has mentioned more than once since becoming world champion that Magnus Carlsen is still the best player in the world.
Gukesh’s next event will be the Tata Steel Chess Tournament at Wijk aan Zee from January 17 to February 2, where he will face off against a field that comprises compatriots like Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and Leon Luke Mendonca besides some of the world’s top stars like Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Anish Giri. One of his seconds Vincent Keymer will also be there.
As the world champion, every event Gukesh goes to, he will carry a target on his back besides the added scrutiny.
“For sure, becoming world champion was hard but I know that there will be many more challenges — even tougher ones — in the future. But I like challenges and I will try my best to figure things out and improve myself day by day. I want to be the best version of myself. It’s clear that as the World Champion there will be a lot of players looking forward to beating me. I’m looking forward to playing against them and proving my strength,” he says.
‘Wasn’t expecting tough resistance from Ding’
Gukesh prepared for the World Championship since April this year, when he won the Candidates and earned a right to challenge world champion Ding Liren for the throne. He assembled a five-member team that included Grzegorz Gajewski, Pentala Harikrishna, Radosław Wojtaszek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vincent Keymer. He also got on board mind guru Paddy Upton to help him prepare for every single scenario in Singapore.
But despite all of this, were there still surprises in Singapore when the action began?
“The World Championship preparation was really intense. Just a long journey! I’m really grateful to my whole team for helping me in this journey and becoming world champion at the time. The goal was there from the beginning and to achieve this means a lot. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting such tough resistance from Ding in games when he was in worse positions. That was a bit of a surprise, but I think we managed to adapt quickly to that,” says Gukesh.
For now, Gukesh still has multiple off-the-board obligations which will keep him away from the chessboard. He doesn’t mind, understanding fully well that becoming a world champion comes with itself a sense of responsibility.
Open doors for sponsorship
“After 11 years, the crown is coming back home and it will be great for Indian chess. While the government has done a lot to support the sport, I think this win will also open the doors for many sponsorships (for chess players).I think this win will mean a lot for India. The future of chess, for sure, looks very bright. I’m really grateful to play my part in this chess boom.”
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