Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Indian chess has had a fabulous 2024. World champion (D Gukesh), Olympiad clean sweep, an under-19 girls’ world champion (Divya Deshmukh), a best player award in the Global Chess League (Nihal Sarin) — they ticked boxes that will be hard to match. As Viswanathan Anand said after Gukesh scaled the highest peak, he would like to be proven wrong, but it will be difficult to top this. Now, all of a sudden, these players find themselves in a territory they have not excelled yet at the senior level. The World Rapid and Blitz Championship will be held in New York…

An 18-year-old who looks and behaves beyond his age, he turns up suited-booted for his games and sports a sacred white dot on his forehead. He doesn’t talk big and stays calm at the time of jubilation. When the year started, nobody had an inkling that this boy from Chennai would be the runaway sportsperson of the year for India. Nobody ruled his or her sports in 2024 like D Gukesh did. In few other disciplines — possibly with the exception of French swimmer Leon Marchand, who won four Olympic gold medals in Paris — did an individual win every…

The best thing about the D Gukesh fairytale is it doesn’t end there. He is, at the moment, on top of a pyramid which has a strong foundation. There are several Indians already at the elite level. A few more are getting closer. The depth in chess is formidable and the rate of growth high. India is second in the world, behind the USA, in the average Elo ratings of a country’s top 10 players. The new world champion not being the highest-rated Indian confirms this is a serious pool. That honour goes to Arjun Erigaisi, who has become the…

In world chess, 2024 will be remembered as India’s year. Making it more specific, it was the year of the youngsters from the country. The game was anticipating an Indian upsurge anytime. This bunch of boys and girls were making their presence felt in major events. D Gukesh’s triumph at the World Championship announced emphatically that they have arrived big time. This was coming. The first signs were seen at the Chennai Chess Olympiad in 2022. The Indian men’s team won bronze — for the second time after 2014 — while the women clinched a first bronze. Then, four Indians…

Along with celebrations in India following D Gukesh’s coronation as the youngest-ever world chess champion, there were clamours in certain parts of the world. Not everybody took this in the right spirit and even alleged foul play. This isn’t new. Even before this championship duel, some top players had said that the winner would not be the rightful world champion. The most sensational of these outbursts came from the Russian chess federation. Almost immediately after Gukesh dethroned Ding Liren, it accused the Chinese of making a bad move deliberately. It was the 55th move of that 14th and final game,…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Singapore Equarius Hotel is a luxurious property in Resorts World Sentosa. This was the centre of global attention for the last 18 days or so. This was the venue for the World Chess Championship match between Ding Liren and D Gukesh. It witnessed history, as the Indian defeated the Chinese defending champion in a dramatic final game to become the youngest-ever winner of the crown. When I landed in Singapore to cover this match for RevSportz, there were butterflies in my stomach. Being primarily a cricket reporter all my life, I was at sea because this was…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Singapore City At the age of 18 and carrying the expectations of a nation of a billion and a half, D Gukesh is up against it. Ding Liren has stood in front of him like the proverbial Chinese Wall and defended everything hurled at him. In the last of the 14 games to be played today, the defending champion is the favourite because he will have the advantage of playing with white pieces. The World Chess Championship match being played at the luxurious and picturesque Resorts World Sentosa is actually on a knife’s edge. Whoever wins this…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Singapore City The Thinker is a landmark sculpture created by French master Auguste Rodin in 1904. It shows a man in a thinking mood, seated in a semi-crouched position. His right elbow is resting on his left knee and the palm is supporting the chin. It’s a significant piece of work in the history of sculpting. Near the venue of the World Chess Championship, one can spot The Thinker, installed inside a mall. In a way, it is symbolic. At Resorts World Sentosa, where the match between D Gukesh and Ding Liren is taking place, one can…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Singapore City D Gukesh already had some support in Singapore from the Indian population residing in this country. In addition, about 40 members of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) have arrived here to be by at his side for the World Chess Championship duel against Ding Liren of China. With two rounds to go, the match is tied 6-6. It’s not new to see Indian sports federation officials travel to international competitions. At the Olympics and Asian Games, they are seen in large numbers. If media reports of the olden days are to go by, on…

Champions are those who hit their way back with their back to the wall. Ding Liren showed what he is made of by inflicting a defeat on D Gukesh in the crucial 12th game of the World Chess Championship. The crushing win by the defending champion leaves this match tied at 6-6, with two more games to play. There was a muted round of applause at the fan zone at Resorts World Sentosa, where this match is being played, after the players shook hands following the 39th move. It was vastly different from the explosion of cheers seen a day…