Chess: Gukesh and India celebrate after win but new challenges are emerging
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The youngest ever undisputed world champion, 18, had a rapturous reception on his return to Chennai, but his new status will be tested at Wijk aan Zee in January. Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, had a rapturous reception from Indian fans when he flew back to Chennai after deposing China’s Ding Liren for the world title 7.5-6.5 by winning their 14th and final game in Singapore.
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It was an occasion which, in Indian terms, could have been surpassed in intensity only by a winning IPL cricket team, while its English equivalent would be a home city football celebration for Premier or Champions League winners. The underlying message was that India’s chess ecosystem is strong, with more than 80 grandmasters, over 120 international masters and tens of thousands of rated players. It is the 21st century equivalent of the Soviet Union’s dominant decades in the 1940s and 1950s.
For Gukesh, the period of celebration will be short. Next month he starts play in the Netherlands at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, known as the chess Wimbledon and one of a trio of major tournaments in which the teenager needs to perform well to impress sceptics who believe that the quality of play in Singapore was below the best world championship standards.
Magnus Carlsen abdicated the world crown in 2023 after a 10-year reign, citing the drudgery of the months of preparation needed for a title match. Carlsen wrote: “ If Gukesh was playing Fabiano Caruana or Hikaru Nakamura in this match and played the same way, he would probably have had a very difficult time.” Caruana and Nakamura, America’s world No 2 and 3, were edged out by just half a point at the Toronto Candidates in April, when Gukesh qualified as the challenger.
