BIG $350,000 (Rs 2.49 crore approx) NUMBER
NEWEST PRODIGY D Gukesh is a 12-year-old who has checkmated conventions — the Chennai lad became India’s youngest Grandmaster a few days ago
NEW DELHI: What do you expect of a citybred 12-year-old? That he would be restless, hang out with friends, run around in playgrounds, freak out on Playstation or Temple Run, binge on cartoons and movies and talk Pokemon, among other things.
None of the stereotypes holds true for Chennai’s D Gukesh, India’s newest and the world’s second youngest chess Grandmaster, one who has checkmated convention even before he becomes a teenager.
Gukesh doesn’t go to school anymore. He seldom goes out to play and he definitely doesn’t come home after picking fights with children in the neighbourhood. As the only son of doctor parents, his obvious career choice should have been medicine. Gukesh plays chess instead, and, for most of the day, he is poring over books or the computer to hone his skills.
Then again, as a chess player, it would have been natural if Gukesh was inspired by Chennai’s most famous chess son Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen and Bobby Fischer. But he is inspired by Alex Honnold, a Us-based free solo climber. Doing ‘free solo’ means climbing a rock face without equipment: ropes and other accessories we normally associate with safety. One false step can be fatal.
STAYING SHARP
But how does it inspire a chess player? “Constant alertness,” says Gukesh, his bright eyes lighting up even more as he explains: “A slip won’t cost you your life in chess, but it can cost you the game.”
Gukesh was introduced to Honnold by his coach GM Vishnu Prasanna, who is also a current player. After joining Vishnu in August 2017, Gukesh won his first International Master (IM) norm two months later.
Since then, he has played 276 matches in 30 tournaments across 13 countries. En route, he achieved the two remaining IM norms. On Tuesday, he completed his third GM norm to earn the title, the highest for a chess player provided he has an Elo rating of above 2500.
His attitude of “one miss and you are dead” has now made him India’s youngest GM at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, just 17 days shy of world record-holder Russian Sergey Karjakin, who became GM in 2002.
Chess happened to Gukesh by accident. Seeing his parents play occasionally at home got him intrigued. V Bhaskar, the game teacher at Velammal Vidyalaya CBSE in Chennai, where Gukesh is enrolled in Class VII, saw an initial spark and included him in the school’s chess club.
In 2015, Gukesh jumped from 1200 in Fide (world chess governing body) ratings to 1800 and his parents got serious. His father Dommaraju Rajni Kanth told him to focus only on chess. So Gukesh gave up attending classes. His school also allowed him to just write the examinations. And why not? He was topping his class even then. But for the past 15 months, Gukesh has stopped taking the examinations as well because he has been living out of a suitcase.
His father, an ENT surgeon, gave up medical practice to become a visiting doctor at different private hospitals and took up travelling the world to chess tournaments with his son as his full-time job.
“It is a huge risk for us, mainly because we are a middle-class family. My wife (Dr Padma Kumari) is a microbiologist at the Madras Medical College and we are now being supported solely by her,” says Rajni on the sidelines of the Delhi GM Chess tournament, where Gukesh won his final GM norm.
SPOTTING THE SPARK
Padma too has taken up the challenge. “All our sacrifices have paid off. He has crossed two milestones and as parents nothing makes us more proud,” says the mother with a broad smile.
But what motivated the Dommarajus to take the plunge? GM R Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh’s statemate — who at 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, became India’s then-youngest GM in June 2018 — is the reply. “We saw Praggnanandhaa. But it’s Gukesh who took his success positively,” says Vishnu over phone from Chennai.
Including Nihal Sarin who became GM in August 2018 at 14 years, 1 month and 1 day, Gukesh is the third young GM India has had in seven months.
“There was no jealousy. Gukesh felt if Praggnanandhaa can so could he. The first thing that strikes you about Gukesh is his maturity. He is calm, attentive, always looking for something to learn. I constantly learn from him, the composure with which he takes his losses,” says Vishnu.
“The most important thing Vishnu Sir taught me is that a higher rated player may not always be the better player,” says Gukesh, who comes across as a quiet, level-headed boy.
“He is definitely not like this at home. He is really naughty,” says Rajni. “The biggest fights that happen between him and his mom are over food. He just refuses to eat. We have to drag him out of his room where he is constantly at the computer. He is just hooked to chess. We tell him to take a break, he refuses.”
Even now Gukesh wants to keep playing as many tournaments as he can. The constant travel and competitions have taken a toll on his dad, who looked tired and said he now wants Gukesh to pick and choose tournaments. But Gukesh just doesn’t want to ease up.
In the past 15 months, Rajni said, he has spent around Rs 20 lakh just on travel. “Chess classes too are expensive. But thankfully, unlike in Delhi, it’s comparatively a lot more reasonable in Chennai. But even then, Rs 30,000 a month on coaching is a fair estimate. But we are not worried about the finances at the moment. Let’s see.”
Now that Gukesh is a GM, what is his target? The father says an improved Elo rating to 2700 (his current rating is 2509) by mid-2020 should be great. Coach Vishnu says breaking into the world’s top 100 (around 2650 Elo rating) by the end of 2020 would be phenomenal. Gukesh says: “I want to be the world champion like Magnus Carlsen.” The look in his eyes shows he means it.
Most important thing Vishnu Sir taught me is a higher rated player may not always be better... I want to be the world champion like Magnus Carlsen
D GUKESH, India’s newest GM It is a huge risk for us. My wife is a microbiologist at the Madras Medical College and we are now being supported solely by her.
D RAJNI KANTH, Gukesh’s father
There was no jealousy. Gukesh felt if Praggnanandhaa can so could he. The first thing that strikes you about Gukesh is his maturity. He is calm, attentive, always looking for something to learn. I constantly learn from him, the composure with which he takes his losses.
GM VISHNU PRASANNA, Gukesh’s coach on his ward’s qualities