Soon after he came back from winning the Candidates on April 22, 2024, D Gukesh started to prepare for the World Championship. He was Candidates champion at the age of 17, the youngest ever to win the tournament. And yet, things hadn’t gone to his head. Even when saying it hadn’t sunk in, he was pragmatic and reasonable. “We are longing for some rest and for things to settle down,” he had said. “Once that happens, I think the realisation will sink in. I haven’t really had time to process things yet.”
Today, as we celebrate the first anniversary of that Candidates triumph, we celebrate the world champion who has managed to stay humble and rooted. He is still the same person, and money and fame haven’t really changed him.
For Gukesh, it has always been about the process. Sample this from him. “For me, it is always about the process. To be the best prepared that I can be. And I was playing some really good chess in the Candidates. To beat Pragg [R Praggnanandhaa] with black was a very good match. In all my matches, I was playing well and had built some really good rhythm. Except in round 7 against [Alireza] Firouzja, it was a very good tournament overall. That was the only bad match and it actually gave me motivation to push harder in the second half of the tournament and do well. When I look back it was the game that made me more determined.”
Ahead of the World Championship final, he had said to me, “I don’t really think about predictions and stuff. I think my job is to go there and play good chess, and if I do that, I believe good things will happen. My focus is entirely on the job at hand, and I know I will have to go there and play at my best.”
That’s exactly what he did. When the entire world had called it a draw, Gukesh did not. He kept at it. Persistence was the key. And the self-belief. With time in hand, he was waiting for Ding Liren to make a mistake. As he recounted at the Trailblazers conclave, “People think it was all done. I did not think so. On many occasions, people make mistakes under pressure. Ding did.”
He is just 18, and will surely improve as a player. He knows that while he is world champion, he isn’t the best yet. Magnus Carlsen is, and getting to that level is his ambition. To create a legacy as rich as that of Carlsen, and rule world chess. With his temperament, few would want to doubt him.
As we celebrate the first anniversary of the Candidates win, a tournament that scripted the Gukesh story, a word on his father is in order. I have known Dr Rajinikanth for some time now. And the thing that stands out is his humility. Each time you speak to him, he will make sure you feel welcome, and may be that’s what makes Gukesh the champion that he is. That’s what sport is all about, and Gukesh will enrich it further going forward. Many congratulations to the youngest-ever world champion, as we remember the start of the journey.