The quiet triumph of D. Gukesh

On Thursday, the 18-year-old became the youngest ever world chess champion, beating China’s Ding Liren in Singapore for the title. The Indian broke another stereotype, one that previously applied to him as well, showing that poker-faced chess players could get emotional too, though with much more restraint than most other sportspersons.

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In the final moments of the 14-round contest, when it became clear that he is in a winning position, Gukesh left his seat and distanced himself from the board, unable to sit down due the building excitement. When Ding offered his hand in resignation, Gukesh shook it and broke into a smile as he sat down.

After a moment, the tears began to flow. He put his head down on the table, lifted it to mouth a quick prayer, smiled and again struggled to hold back tears. As Ding walked away, Gukesh broke down into tears again, composed himself again and started to set the chess board.

After he’s done, pausing occasionally to acknowledge myriad congratulations, he checked his belongings on the table, put on his badge and got up to raise his arms, with a wide smile, to cheers from the audience outside of the glass cabin in which the contestants sit. He meticulously pushed his chair back in place before walking out, seeming almost reluctant to leave the stage that he had anxiously stepped on to three weeks ago and was now exiting triumphantly.

“I got emotional because I did not expect to win that position," he explained later at the post-match conference, to a specific question about his otherwise stoic countenance. “I had prepared to go through the huge tie break fight and suddenly it was all over.

“I don’t show (usually) emotions, but this one can be forgiven," he added, smiling broadly.

Gukesh’s title win came in the final round, with the contestants tied on 6.5 points each and the game seemingly headed for a draw. Had the game been drawn, the contest would have led to the tie-breaker that he referred to. But the reigning champion Ding blundered in the 55th move, altering the prospect of the game.

Ding applied a strategy that had previously been working—offering a trade of rooks—but this time in a situation where it was a losing move, according to chess.com. It took a moment for both players to realise what had happened, before Gukesh’s response told the story. He covered his mouth, stared at the board intently, and then smiled—a sequence of reactions that revealed a joy that he was trying to conceal.

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“When I realised that (Ding’s mistake), it was probably the best moment of my life," Gukesh said later. He finished with 7.5 points to Ding’s 6.5, with three games won (one point for a win, half a point for a draw), taking home a prize of $1.35 million for the title.

The Indian had started the championship with a loss in the first round, which was his toughest challenge. “You come (here) as an 18-year-old and lose the first game—it’s humiliating," Gukesh said.

He remembered walking back to his hotel after that loss and was in the lift when Viswanathan Anand, the five-time world champion and the only other Indian to hold the title, happened to run into him.

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“‘I had 11 games and you have 13 games.’ That’s the only thing he (Anand) said. It was a nice reminder that it was just one game and I will get my chances," Gukesh added. Anand was referring to his 2010 12-round match against Veselin Topalov in which the Indian lost the first game, but went on to win the title.

Anand, whose WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) supports Gukesh along with several other Indian players, had an inspirational role to play earlier too in Gukesh’s career. The new world champion remembered seeing the world title contest between Anand and Magnus Carlsen in Chennai in 2013 when “the title was taken away from India".

“I was in the stands and I wanted to be the one to bring back the title to India," Gukesh said. Carlsen, the world’s highest rated player, does not contest for the world championships.

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Gukesh’s win is a reiteration of the wealth of talent Indian chess possess. Others like Arjun Erigaisi, who just became only the second Indian to get past a rating of 2800 in FIDE’s (International Chess Federation) list, R. Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, are of a similar age category and competing for the same rewards. Any of them could be Gukesh’s challenger for the world title in two years’ time.

The intensity of competition is also evidenced by the team Gukesh put together to help in the title bid—largely kept a secret till after the victory. This included players like Grzegorz Gajewski, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, P. Harikrishna, Vincent Keymer, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Jan Klimkowski, Anand and Paddy Upton, the mental health coach who also worked with the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team.

All of them “worked their asses off," Gukesh said, especially thanking Gayu (Gajewski), Radoslaw and Hari who have little children. “Not easy for them to stay away from their family. For them to fight till the end, for me, was a selfless sacrifice."

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When Carlsen won his world title in Chennai, he famously jumped into the hotel pool, fully clothed. Gukesh, explaining what he might do, said they were walking on the beach on the rest day of 6 December when they saw some people bungee jumping.

Gajewski, perhaps as a motivational tool, said if Gukesh wins the world title, he would bungee jump.

Taken in by the magnitude of the moment, Gukesh, who is scared of heights, decided to take the plunge too. “Probably Paddy can also join," Gukesh said on Thursday, when the prospect of having to do it became real.

Then the teenager, in all sincerity and with a big smile added, “(I’m) Looking forward to jumping off a bridge."

Arun Janardhan is a Mumbai-based journalist who covers sports, business leaders and lifestyle. He posts @iArunJ.

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