Bengaluru: “How in the world is he 18?” Chess fans around the world have wondered aloud over the past few weeks. The only time Gukesh Dommaraju – measured, stoic, and mature beyond his years – let his emotions sneak out was when he raised arms in celebration and sat sobbing at the board after his win. Even as he sobbed, Gukesh fastidiously arranged the pieces back on the board. It was a habit, a discipline towards the little things. His opponent, Ding Liren, had sat across him, crestfallen, moments ago, before he peeled his jacket off his chair and staggered away.
On Friday, Gukesh stood on the stage in Singapore by himself – the Tricolour draped over his shoulders, a gold medal and a bright pinkish-purple garland of orchids, Singapore’s national flower, around his neck, his raised right hand clasping the FIDE World Championship trophy, and the widest smile he had allowed himself in weeks.
“I dreamt of this moment a million times in my head,” he said, “This moment was the reason I woke up every morning and the reason why I did every little thing so far. This moment in reality means more than anything else in my life.”
Gukesh thanked his parents, Padma and Rajini Kanth – “This win means more to them than to me” – and invoked his faith in higher powers. “This whole (chess) journey began with a summer camp in school…In so many moments throughout my career and life, when I couldn’t see a solution, God pulled me through and showed me the right way. I thank God for performing so many miracles…”
The teen recovered from the hard knock of defeat in the first game of his debut World Championship with the White pieces to strike back in Game 3. You’d imagine that the Game 12 loss, so close to the business end, must’ve hurt.
“By definition, it should have been the 12th game, but Gukesh dealt with it really, really well and he actually felt completely fine after the game,” his trainer Grzegorz Gajewski told HT. “He told me he is confident and ready to fight in the next two games. It was similar to after his loss to (Alireza) Firouzja in the Candidates. It was more difficult for him to handle all those games where he was actually winning, but did not manage to win and even almost lost one.”
Gukesh’s demeanour at the board throughout the contest was largely impassive and in the post-game press conferences, both after tough losses and missed wins, he was poised. “Not being able to perform at the very high level he expects from himself in the biggest test of his life, and making peace with the fact that you’re not always at your best, but you can still be better than your opponent. – that was a very difficult path for him,” revealed Gajewski.
Gukesh’s calm, unruffled approach had seen him through a stacked field in the Candidates. He became its youngest winner earlier this year. To deal with the expectations of a nation, the enormity of the occasion and just the sheer nerves of sitting down to play a high-stakes World Championship match for the first time, is not exactly an 18-year-old-sized job. There were chess fans ferrying temple offerings to him from India to Singapore and the many who chanted and cheered his name in a foreign country, as he walked in and after games, were a constant reminder of what the win would mean to thousands he’d didn’t know by name.
On Thursday, he bolted out of the playing arena and into the waiting arms of his father for a good cry, before wrapping Gajewski in a bear hug. Only after his win did he let the world see the boy within.
