India's Chess Star D Gukesh Confident Of Meeting Expectations

Star Indian chess player D Gukesh is embracing the “new level” of competition where he is confident of handling the challenges and “meeting the expectations”. Gukesh became the youngest chess world champion when he defeated Ding Liren of China last year in Singapore at just 18 years of age. Set to compete in the elite Norway Chess tournament beginning on Monday, the Chennai youngster said the only thing he needed to gain more success was to keep random thoughts at bay and just concentrate on the game. “It is a new level (for me). But when I see it as a challenge to prove to myself that I can handle this, even though the expectations are high, I can meet them if I keep working hard and doing my best,” said the Indian Grandmaster.

He said that playing five hours of classical chess can make one’s mind wander, but the key to winning those tiring games is to not lose focus.

“In a classical game, you end up playing five hours and those are the times you cannot fully be thinking about the game. I think there are random thoughts that come to our mind but the important thing is to stay in the game and come back to those thoughts later.

“This is the purpose of the note that you’re making. And you can’t afford to allow weak moments,” said Gukesh, who along with Arjun Erigaisi will compete against the likes of world No.1 Magnus Carlsen and No.2 Hikaru Nakamura in the USD USD 1,62,681 tournament, once termed as “the Wimbledon of Chess” by the legendary Garry Kasparov.

The 12-day tournament, which concludes on June 6, will see Gukesh compete against Carlsen in his own backyard, which will be the highlight of the event given that the Indian is the world champion and the Norwegian is the world No. 1.

This will be the first time since being crowned world champion that the 18-year-old will face off against Carlsen in the classical format.

“I feel great being here (in Stavanger). I’ve had good memories from Norway. I am sure playing Magnus here in a classical game will be a fun challenge. Also, for the spectators, it is about the world champion versus the No.1 player in the world.” The last time Gukesh competed in Norway Chess was in 2023 where he finished third. He had secured the crucial FIDE Circuit points needed to qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

That achievement made him the third-youngest player in history to qualify for a Candidates tournament, following in the footsteps of Bobby Fischer and Carlsen.

Gukesh hoped the games against Carlsen would live up to expectations, given the hype built around them.

“It surely sounds very exciting so it’s surely something I am very happy to give, myself and the chess fans. And I hope it will be a treat,” added Gukesh.

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