Eight wins in a row on the Chess Olympiad made Gukesh the brand new poster boy for Indian chess. After turning into the youngest Indian and then-second-youngest Grandmaster ever in 2019, Gukesh has been in distinctive type.

Among him, Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani, Gukesh has probably the most versatile recreation. He has nice positional sense and might oscillate between assault and defence. He’s not solely unafraid of laying traps but in addition is aware of when to drag himself out of 1.

Dommaraju Gukesh has already skilled fairly a couple of highs and lows. He turned India’s youngest Grandmaster however missed turning into the world’s youngest GM by simply 17 days. He gained gold on the Chess Olympiad this yr and was on an 8/8 streak earlier than throwing away an important recreation. And he’s simply 16.

Ever since turning into a GM in 2019, Gukesh has despatched shockwaves around the globe along with his performances, together with turning into the youngest particular person to beat five-time world champion, Magnus Carlsen.

But he’s simply 16. While for the world he’s a chess prodigy, at dwelling, his mom says, he’s allowed to actually “act his age”. That contains worrying his grandmother by tossing toys at her and making her scream, and simply “being a naughty kid at home.”

Cricket or chess?

Being an solely baby meant that Gukesh was given lots of consideration rising up however having a microbiologist mom and an ear, nostril and throat (ENT) surgeon father additionally meant that his mother and father had fairly a busy schedule. They needed to plan their schedule per week upfront to see who would be capable to choose him up from college.

“Generally I would go and pick him up, but the problem was I could only reach 15-20 minutes after his school ended,” his father Rajnikanth tells The Indian Express.

Not wanting to go away him alone, his mother and father determined that they’d enroll him in some after-school extracurricular actions. The conundrum was which one.

Gukesh, his mom says, was a really naughty child (the lovable variety) who cherished cricket and different outside sports activities, and so the gentleman’s recreation was a pure alternative.

“But my wife knew that Gukesh had a phenomenal memory and could grasp concepts very easily. And it was she who suggested that instead of an outdoor sport, we enroll him in chess,” Rajnikanth says.

For a child who loves outside sports activities to play a recreation like chess, which requires great self-discipline, could possibly be a drastic change however Gukesh’s mom says self-discipline is one thing he by no means lacked.

“When it came to his school and studies, he was always independent. Right from the first standard, we never had to tell him to do his homework. It was quite a blessing for us too. We had no problem with his naughtiness because we knew he was very disciplined when it came to his school work,” his mom Padma says.

Zeroing in on chess as his extracurricular exercise was top-of-the-line selections his mother and father have made for him. It’s been a decade since that call, a decade of battle, uncertainty, and exhilaration.

The starting

For that early spark of expertise to be recognised is usually probably the most tough half. Thankfully for Gukesh, his early chess tutors realised that he was nice at understanding strikes and creating his personal attacking play.

“The teachers lavished praise on him, saying his play was very good. Even without really teaching him, he was playing attacking chess. At home, he played with his cousins and we could see that he would not allow anything to distract him when he was playing,” Padma says.

While Gukesh was successful matches and a few small tournaments, he lacked correct psychological conditioning. “He would get to the final stages of tournaments but would not be able to close it out,” says his dad. So to take his recreation to the subsequent stage, in 2017, his mother and father determined that they wanted a private tutor for him, somebody who has seen all of it. They opted for GM Vishnu Prasanna, who had begun teaching skilled chess gamers only a yr earlier.

That had a direct influence. Gukesh began notching up outcomes that made heads flip. He had gained the Under-9 part of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015, however his large triumph was the 2018 World Youth Chess Championships within the Under-12 class. That yr was large for Gukesh.

After successful 5 gold medals on the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championships, within the U-12 particular person speedy and blitz, U-12 workforce speedy and blitz, and the U-12 particular person classical codecs, he accomplished the necessities for the title of International Master in March on the thirty fourth Cappelle-la-Grande Open.

“When I first saw him, I had no doubt about his talent. He was not your typical 11-year-old. He would study tricks and tactics and wanted to finish games quickly by playing attacking chess. His positional chess sense was exceptional,” Prasanna tells this paper.

In what’s a bit exceptional these days, Prasanna refused to permit Gukesh to make use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop his recreation. In truth, it wasn’t till he turned a GM that he began utilizing AI.

Calm after the norm

In the latter a part of 2018, Gukesh out of the blue started to decelerate, simply as he began approaching a score of 2700, which might make him a Grandmaster. Not only a Grandmaster, it could make him the youngest–ever GM. His dad says it was a testing time for Gukesh as he was nervous about shedding to lesser-ranked gamers.

“When you haven’t become a Grandmaster, you have to play smaller events and compete against players ranked sometimes much lower than you. If you lose to them, your ranking takes a huge hit. That’s what perhaps was playing on his mind in late 2018. He had many opportunities, but couldn’t take it. It was a huge learning for him,” Rajnikanth says.

Gukesh finally missed Sergey Karjakin’s document by simply 17 days, turning into the then-second-youngest Grandmaster in historical past on January 15, 2019, on the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days.

After that, Gukesh has turn into extra level-headed, feels Prasanna. “Earlier he would get flustered and angered after every loss. He would take time to analyse what he could do differently. He’s different now. He’s able to recover well after a hard loss and he doesn’t get too excited about any win,” 33-year-old Prasanna says.

That he doesn’t get too excited even about large wins was fairly evident when Gukesh mentioned he may do a lot better after turning into the youngest participant to beat Carlsen in a recreation on the Aimchess Rapid Tournament.

“Beating Magnus is always special, but I was not very proud of that game,” he had mentioned in his post-game evaluation. Carlsen had the higher hand in a double-edged place, when an innocuous-looking transfer turned the tables in favour of Gukesh.

While he didn’t rejoice, it was the primary time for the reason that Chess Olympiad in August that Gukesh may smile.

At the Olympiad held in Chennai, he was adjudged the most effective participant for his record-equalling streak of eight wins in eight video games, nevertheless it was a loss that had haunted him. He had combusted towards Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, simply as India appeared getting ready to defeating the eventual champions. For a lot of the match, Gukesh was successful, earlier than it got here to a drawing place, whereupon his opponent provided a draw. He refused and obtained overwhelmed. He felt devastated and shut himself in his room.

“Yeah we won a medal, I won a medal but the bronze would have been a gold, but for the mistake I made. I was very angry at myself, and that hurts me,” Gukesh had mentioned.

Prasanna says that was the bottom he’s seen him. “Thankfully Vishy sir (Viswanathan Anand) was there and consoled him. He told him these are very small hurdles and it’s part of chess. Those words really encouraged him,” Prasanna says.

Gym, meditation, comedy

For a 16-year-old to be travelling internationally and competing towards gamers generally double his age is a big ask however his dad says that routine works wonders for Gukesh.

“Would you believe that he spends an hour and a half in the gym every day?” asks his father, who needed to utterly surrender his apply in 2017 to accompany Gukesh for his tournaments.

“He does meditation and also watches comedy series. People think that chess players are serious. It’s quite the opposite.”

His dad didn’t thoughts giving up his apply to give attention to Gukesh’s profession regardless of occasions being onerous financially. “We had savings and took loans. We believed in him, and it’s paying off,” Rajnikanth says.

There’s just one factor he needs he may change although. While Gukesh travels to picturesque locations for occasions, all he and his dad see is the within of the chess corridor. And that’s what Rajnikanth needs to vary greater than something. “Imagine being in Paris and not going to see the Eiffel Tower. But that’s how it is. The focus is entirely on chess,” he says.

From simply going from one match to the opposite, his dad would select to determine his total calendar now. From going for chess lessons day by day to selecting when he must be coached, Gukesh’s five-year plan has outstretched his creativeness.

Gukesh was within the prime 100 in April. By August, he was within the prime 20. Something says he’s simply getting began.