Gukesh’s victory has made India emerge as world chess superpower
2 min read
New Delhi (Team Newsbuddy). The picture of D Gukesh smiling with both arms outstretched with the glow of victory on his face has been etched forever in the memories of more than a billion Indians. The pictures taken just after defeating China’s Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship match in Singapore are a witness to India’s growing stature on the world chess map after the era of Vishwanathan Anand. The year 2024 was the year of the rise of Indian chess, the blueprint of which was prepared by Anand himself. According to Garry Kasparov, ‘Vish’s fighters’ are fearless and ambitious youth who now have a new role model in the form of 18-year-old Gukesh from Chennai.
Gukesh became the youngest world champion in the history of chess. This journey started in April through the FIDE Candidates Tournament. He became the youngest player to win the tournament and also secured a place in the world championship match against 32-year-old Liren. After this, Gukesh was considered a strong contender even before the 14-round title match, which was bound to create pressure. Gukesh won the title of World Champion by winning the third, 11th and 14th rounds. Facing the burden of expectations of the whole country, Gukesh performed brilliantly.
Credit for this also goes to his support staff which included Anand, who started the chess revolution in India, and the famous mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton. Before Gukesh’s victory, India won six gold medals in team and individual categories in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September. India defeated Slovenia in the men’s team final and Azerbaijan in the women’s category. The other two countries to win both the women’s and men’s titles in the same Olympiad are China and the former Soviet Union. In the individual category, Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal won gold medals. Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali, who crossed 2500 ELO rating last year, were the first brother-sister pair to play in the Candidates.
They are also the first brother-sister pair to achieve the Grandmaster norm. Praggnanandhaa defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen in the classical format on his home ground at Norway Chess in May.
