Competing in the sport of Kings, young Indian chess player D. Gukesh boldly stole the championship from the World Chess Champion Ding Liren, providing a spectacular show of excellent maneuvers in the final game of the championship. Sasikiran, an 18-year-old grandmaster, brings cheers to the country as he becomes the youngest World Champion in chess since its inception. On his homecoming to Chennai, Gukesh was covered in a melee as fans that flocked to the airport to welcome their new chess sensation awaited him.
The last game of the championship was played in Dubai, and it was extremely close to the end of the match. The teams played for more than six hours. Gukesh was black and enjoyed a fine tactical battle as well as accurate calculation to outplay his opponent. Finally, the young Indian starts getting an advantage, and when Ding Liren gets under pressure, he goes wrong in the endgame, which also allows Gukesh to get an important pawn advantage.
Soon after Gukesh’s victory got out, congratulatory messages began pouring in from chess lovers, fellow grandmasters, and even politicians. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the young chess champion on the micro-blogging site Twitter and asserted it as the youngster’s triumph, which showed India’s growing talent in the field of chess. The win is considered a morale booster for the sport in India as it has witnessed an upswing in recent years.
Indian supporters welcomed Gukesh back home to Chennai, and the crowd of fans with Indian flags cheered for him, shouting Gukesh’s name. I wanted to be the first to congratulate him, but that was not to be the case as fans mobbed the airport demanding to have a glimpse of the new world champion while the latter was being led away by security officers, much to his discomfort. Even as people trooped in to congratulate the young grandmaster, he kept mute but kept on thanking his coaches, family, and all those who aided him to soar to the top.
Like any legends of the past, Gukesh’s improvements to the highest level of chess have been astonishingly swift. Till this age, he has already become a grandmaster, and everybody has witnessed that he plays very seriously and thinks very deeply. The victory of Akash in the World Championship is attributed to him having the benefit of many years of rigid training and discipline, besides being an indication of an even brighter future for chess in the country.
It would be incorrect to state that Gukesh’s success has stopped affecting the world only on the chess field. It has once again brought into focus how talent needs to be given its due in India, and this is where their victory in intellectual sports is significant. Chess institutions in the country are experiencing a massive adoption increase as Gukesh’s success fuels the parent and child drive. The government has also said plans to provide more funds to promote chess in schools so as to boost other extra curriculum activities aiming at the improvement of mental ability among students.
That record was set in the historical period, and the spotlight now shifts to Gukesh’s career in the sport. Analysts are of the opinion that it could be a sign of the long dominance of the young Indian grandmaster at the summit. Gukesh has all the characteristics a great chess player needs: astounding combinations of a talented and experienced mind with a decisive youth; there is nothing to suggest he won’t dominate chess for the next ten years and bring India back to the pinnacle of the sport.