During the last six months, India’s D Gukesh has been on one thing of a world tour. Because the FIDE World Cup in July-August in Azerbaijan’s Baku, the 17-year-old has not spent greater than 10 days at a stretch at his dwelling in Chennai as he chased a spot on the subsequent yr’s Candidates event relentlessly, while additionally attending to skilled commitments world wide.
After the World Cup in Baku, Gukesh went to Germany for the FIDE World Fast Crew Championships, Kolkata for the Tata Metal India Fast and Blitz occasion and the Asian Video games nationwide crew camp, Germany once more for the Armageddon occasion, China’s Hangzhou for the Asian Video games, Doha for Qatar Masters and to the Isle of Man for the FIDE Grand Swiss. There have been additionally pitstops at London for the London Traditional earlier than a door opened for him to edge nearer to the Candidates with a last-minute Chennai Grand Masters occasion, the place he did sufficient to edge forward of Anish Giri within the FIDE Circuit race to the Candidates spot.
However Gukesh’s spot on the prestigious Candidates was sealed on Saturday on the FIDE World Fast and Blitz event in Samrkand when Giri couldn’t safe the highest spot. Gukesh thus will be a part of compatriots Praggnanandhaa R and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi on the eight-man Candidates in April subsequent yr — the primary time ever three Indians might be competing on the occasion.
Lastly Time to assume abt Toronto!!
Grateful to Westbridge Capitals and @WacaChess,@vishy64theking ,@GajuChess ,@ChessGMVishnu for the massive assist with coaching and crew help and all the time believing and inspiring me even throughout robust instances just lately!#Candidates2024! pic.twitter.com/4QZneN374p— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 30, 2023
‘Enjoying continuous’
“He was taking part in continuous over the previous couple of months. The entire time he was on tour. Between the World Cup and the Grand Swiss, he didn’t come dwelling,” Gukesh’s father Dr Rajini Kanth tells The Indian Specific from Uzbekistan’s Samarkand, minutes after Gukesh’s spot is secured.
“Initially of the yr, he was taking part in wonderful chess. Even within the World Cup, he performed his very best regardless of the dual pressures of qualifying for the Candidates and the narrative of him overhauling Vishy Anand’s ranking. He had been working the entire yr for this, however he had some last-minute hiccups to qualify. Final two months, he was not in a position to carry out to his regular stage due to the stress to qualify and the exhaustion. So for certain, this can be a large burden off his shoulders,” he provides.
The relentless journey weighed heavy on the younger shoulders whereas the stress of qualifying for the Candidates additionally bore on him mentally.
Grateful to @mkstalin sir,@Udhaystalin sir ,@SportsTN_ for the great help to Chess by organising elite occasions like Olympiad 2022,Chennai Grandmasters 2023 giving us publicity and alternative to shine and in addition encouraging us with well timed monetary help🙏 https://t.co/6q457sElEj pic.twitter.com/n4duvN1wtJ
— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 30, 2023
“He didn’t have an excessive amount of relaxation in the previous couple of months. That might have been averted. However we had agreed to play in lots of occasions and signed contracts for them earlier than the FIDE World Cup, so there was an obligation to play there. Most likely we should always have withdrawn from one or two fast tournaments. However we didn’t need to pull out as a result of when you comply with one thing it’s not good to show again,” says Gukesh’s father. “On the Grand Swiss, he was not at his greatest. He was utterly exhausted, which is why that event was an absolute catastrophe.”
Sooner or later, Gukesh’s father reveals, they thought of attempting their luck to qualify for the Candidates by the opposite door: the rankings spot, which ultimately went to Alireza Firouzja.
Insulated from chatter
The subject of him qualifying for the Candidates has inevitably chased him all over the place he has gone since August, when one other Indian teenage phenom, Praggnanandhaa, made the reduce on the FIDE World Cup. On the FIDE Grand Swiss in November, one other Indian, Vidit, claimed a second spot for an Indian within the eight-man discipline to determine who could be the challenger to China’s Ding Liren within the subsequent World Chess Championship.
To insulate him from the fixed chatter of the Candidates, Gukesh’s dad and mom by no means spoke of the event at dwelling. However the subject would crop each public look he went to.
The individuals who have performed a large position in Gukesh’s chess profession had been current on the ultimate day of Chennai Grand Masters 2023 – dad and mom of Gukesh and the household of his coach GM Vishnu Prasanna. Within the 2nd image you possibly can see Gukesh having a relaxed time with Shri Deekshitha,… pic.twitter.com/rJ2vtCFbP5
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) December 22, 2023
“In our home, we by no means spoke of all this stuff: targets or Candidates. However you can’t conceal from the surface world, proper? The second he would step out of the home and go to compete at any event, he could be requested about his possibilities of making the Candidates. Even when he needed to keep away from it, it will be rattling about in his unconscious. He would inevitably be fascinated with it. He would even be requested about it at felicitations,” says Gukesh’s father.
After securing the Candidates spot, Pragg’s coach RS Ramesh stated that {the teenager} will ease off on occasions within the lead-up to the eight-man occasion in April.
For Gukesh although, there are a few occasions slotted in February.
“He might be taking part in within the Tata Metal occasion in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. That’s a serious occasion, which we can’t skip. Then there’s the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, the place solely the highest 8 gamers are taking part in. Not everybody will get an opportunity to play there in opposition to Magnus. We’ll see,” says the relieved father.
For now, although, Gukesh’s father says, {the teenager} is spending the night with different prodigies from India like Pragg and Nihal Sarin to let their hair down if just for a short second.