Sky's the limit for Gukesh

The children of Vishy Anand are on the loose” had quipped one of the strongest ever World Chess champions Garry Kasparov immediately after D Gukesh won the Candidates and qualified as a challenger to the then reigning champion Ding Liren of China.

This was a reaction to the Indian prodigies Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa winning tournaments in tandem all over the globe. It took D Gukesh exactly just eight months to eclipse Kasparov’s record as the youngest ever undisputed world champion by a good four years at just 18 years.

A couple of years back it was Pragg who made the world sit and take notice of his talent by defeating Magnus Carlsen, the highest-ever rated player on the planet and setting the record of being the youngest ever in history to reach the finals of the World Cup. Erigaisi was the first to breach the Elo 2800 barrier on the official rating list even as the World Championship was in progress but Gukesh galloped superbly to clinch the ultimate title tag of the world champion. Incidentally during the Chess Olympiad at Chennai, Carlsen had picked out Gukesh as the player to watch out for.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, who had mentored these young kids through his initiative WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA), was quick to point out Gukesh’s strength in an exclusive chat with DH.

“He generally gives the impression of being quite composed, able to handle setbacks and defeats and very often in tournaments whether the Candidates or the World Championship, he would recover from a defeat and get around playing the next game with his usual strength”.

This incidentally has been a hallmark of all the Indian prodigies who are neither scared of reputations nor scarred by defeats!

Is Gukesh’s ability to stay calm and calculate deep or his overall composure a decisive clinching factor of the world title is one question which Anand takes a moment to consider. “I think, especially his composure and his ability to play a good game every day is pretty impressive but whether that differentiates him from other prodigies, I would say we would need to see what they are capable of as well.

“I’m not very happy making sweeping statements, but this road after all is very tricky, a lot of unexpected things happen but I think this ability to stay calm is one of his strengths.”

Anand was also quick to point out. “The qualities that he showed was his ability to learn a lot of things and experiment a lot with openings. Nowadays he works on his chess, improves consistently and this clearly reflects in his performances throughout this year which have been steady, powerful and impressive.”

Relentlessness

Another ability which makes Gukesh stand out has been the relentless pressure he subjects his opponent to, fighting till every vestige of a positive decisive result has been explored even if the position appears dull and devoid of any life to others. Anand was quick to quip “he has done this throughout this year in a very beautiful manner”.

Boris Gelfand, former World Championship challenger to Anand and a much-acknowledged trainer, has also been working with these Indian prodigies in the last 3-4 years and also had training sessions with Gukesh.

When queried about the quality of these talents, Gelfand replied, “All of them showed different qualities, Gukesh had impressed me with his ability to calculate deeply, Viddit has shown that his potential is much higher than his results, Arjun has showed that his creativity has reached new heights. It is important for aspiring chess players to develop strong sides and individual style of play and it is also important to work on one’s weaknesses, develop and fortify it so it wouldn’t be easy for the opponent to target the weak points.

For now it is Gukesh’s turn to bask in the limelight for a couple of years before he takes on the Challenger who in all probability could be another Indian.