In stating that Magnus Carlsen remains the greatest player and he would love to play him, Gukesh has sent out the most disarming of challenges.
Dec 14, 2024 08:55 IST First published on: Dec 14, 2024 at 06:30 IST
The wait was only 12 years since Viswanathan Anand last won the World Championship. But it was a dozen, long winters of painfully watching Krishnan Sasikiran and Pentala Harikrishna trying to match the five-time world winner’s feats. What Dommaraju Gukesh achieved with his World Championship triumph at Singapore was to drag India out of its wait in the wings, and send out warning signals to the traditional chess powerhouses Russia, USA, Uzbekistan and China — Indians are here to play for the big wins. Gukesh started his journey early at 18. But he is far too mature to keep harping on being the youngest. What a world title at 18, and in a fighting match against a stubborn title holder Ding Liren means, is that he has years ahead in which to absorb inevitable setbacks, develop his bold game without worrying about results, and even look to surpass Vishy Anand’s five titles.
Indian chess has been throbbing with possibilities in the recent years. For some years it has been apparent to contestants from other countries that if Gukesh doesn’t get you, R Praggnanandhaa will, and if Pragg misses somehow, then Arjun Erigaisi will swoop in. India’s depth shone at the Chess Olympiad, and like Garry Kasparov declared, Vishy’s kids are running riot. Gukesh stole the early march with his composed approach and fierce appetite for victory. He declined draws twice and pushed to extract winning advantages, even from seemingly stalemate situations. His accuracy with black (only 0.33 missed points compared to Ding’s 0.56, as per chess expert Mehmet Ismail) meant he remained adventurous even when jaded GMs called a draw. His never-say-die-attitude forced Ding to err when a draw seemed imminent. The acknowledgment from some quarters might have been grudging — Vladimir Kramnik has doubted the quality of chess at the contest — but none can deny Gukesh whisked up some novel lines that boggled trained eyes.
In stating that Magnus Carlsen remains the greatest player and he would love to play him, Gukesh has sent out the most disarming of challenges. Carlsen operates at a higher level, but isn’t keen to put in the doggedness needed for a classical event that goes on for three weeks. But his aura pervades the chess ecosystem. The Norwegian has, for long, made this into a wait for a challenger he deems worthy of battling, hoping Iranian-French Alireza Firouzja steps up. Gukesh didn’t start out wanting to be a worthwhile opponent to Carlsen — he was just doing his own thing at 18. But he did it so well, he brought back the crown Carlsen had taken off Anand. He also hinted he was ready, for whenever Carlsen is.
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