Anand Mahindra takes on chess prodigy Gukesh D. It was a brief game

Anand Mahindra with chess grandmaster Gukesh D

Anand Mahindra is an industrialist, a billionaire businessman, a husband, a grandfather – and a keen chess player, as he recently revealed. During the recently-concluded Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, he even took on Indian chess grandmaster Gukesh D for a brief game.

The chairman of Mahindra Group said the 17-year-old chess prodigy was “gracious” enough to allow him to quit while he was still alive on the board. He also shared two pictures with Gukesh taken during the tournament as he praised the teenager.

“A star in the making. @DGukesh is the youngest to get to this rating level…And I was privileged to play with him, however briefly, during the recent @GCLlive I tried a Ruy Lopez move and he was gracious enough to allow me to quit while I was still alive on the board!” Anand Mahindra tweeted.

A star in the making. @DGukesh is the youngest to get to this rating level…And I was privileged to play with him, however briefly, during the recent @GCLlive I tried a Ruy Lopez move and he was gracious enough to allow me to quit while I was still alive on the board! … pic.twitter.com/yAP5w2ETCO

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 21, 2023

Mahindra may not have lasted long against the grandmaster, but he is a keen player in his own right who has years of experience on Gukesh. In fact, the chairman of Mahindra Group has been playing chess for decades before the prodigy was born, and has recently taken to brushing up his chess skills online.

A day after International Chess Day, which is celebrated on July 20, he dug up an old picture from his honeymoon which shows him playing chess.

Anand Mahindra married his wife Anuradha Mahindra in 1985. The picture was taken during their honeymoon in Agra. The chairman of Mahindra Group said that during the recently-concluded Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, he was often asked if he himself played chess. In his tweet, he also spoke about how he has evolved as a chess player through the decades – and would now prefer the standard e4 instead of the d4 opening he tried back then.

And speaking of chess, I should have posted this yesterday on #InternationalChessDay ! was asked quite often during the @GCLlive if I played chess myself. So I foraged through my album of memories & found this pic from my honeymoon in Agra. No, that wasn’t a robotic board I was… pic.twitter.com/IYmZZT4tTX — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 21, 2023

Mahindra is an active Twitter user with 10.6 million followers on the microblogging platform.