World Chess Championship: Meet D Gukesh, Prodigy who has become a pioneer at just 18

D Gukesh, Chess prodigy who has become a pioneer at just 18. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai is the unquestionable capital of Indian chess. It’s a part of school curriculums and the number of people involved with the game in remarkably high. Players, coaches, facilitators in other capacities — there are thousands who spend time on chess. It’s not an accident then that the state of Tamil Nadu keeps churning out Grandmasters, who become global headlines.

D Gukesh is the brightest of the current lot. He has now become the youngest World Champion in chess history. There were regrets in the Indian chess fraternity that after Viswanathan Anand, there was nobody making a mark at the top level. There were players like K Sasikiran, P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi who showed promise. There were a couple of under-19 world champions as well. But, when it came to calling the shots at the highest tier, there was a void. For a country which produced a multiple-time world champion, this was an anomaly.

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Gukesh has broken that glass ceiling. After Anand, there was no Indian even qualifying for the Candidates, the winner of which gets the chance to challenge the world champion. In Singapore, where the championship match was played, Gukesh had stayed equal after 12 of the 14 games. Never for a moment did he look like an 18-year-old. His poise, composure and maturity bewildered experts and common spectators alike. He looked unfazed after wins and unflustered after defeats. This, from a teenager, is almost unbelievable.

Gukesh had been seen as a precious talent since his early teens. The third-youngest Grandmaster in the world at 13, youngest-ever winner of the Candidates and two standout Chess Olympiad campaigns including gold medal on the top board in 2024 — he has ticked boxes few have. He is right there with the best and ranked fifth in the world. Some of the biggest names in chess did not have these things on their CV when they were this young.

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Chess, or any sport for the matter, need figures that drive the game further. Gukesh, along with contemporaries Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa, have been that kind of a personality. He has re-energised the game when it was beginning to plateau after the best of Anand. It is a huge achievement that he has become the world champion. He has set standards which will inspire another generation of chess players.