Gukesh India’s new No. 1 chess player sets sights on improvement

A day after D Gukesh ended his idol Viswanathan Anand’s 37-year reign as India’s No. 1 chess player, the 17-year-old looked committed and keen as ever to keep “improving” his game. Gukesh, who is here for the Asian Games camp and an invitational tournament, added that he has overcome the disappointment of losing to Norway’s Magnus Carlsen in the World Cup quarterfinals recently. Sounding practical and looking forward to the upcoming events, Gukesh told in an exclusive interaction that, “It’s (loss) already quite some time back, it’s fine there are things ahead and I’m focussing on that.” For someone, who is without a sponsor and manages his finances through prize money and crowd-funding, Gukesh says the West Bridge Anand Chess Academy has played a huge role in his success ever since he came on board in 2021. “(Viswanathan) Anand sir congratulated me; undoubtedly he has played a huge role in my career. He has been my biggest hero and idol. I hope he is happy with my achievement. “I feel good, it’s a good achievement and I’m happy about it,” he said about becoming India No 1, leapfrogging Anand (Elo 2754) by four points in the latest FIDE rating list that came out on Friday. “My trainers and WACA (WestBridge Anand Chess Academy) played a huge role in shaping me up for this,” added Gukesh, who was the youngest chess player to cross an Elo 2750 surpassing Norway’s Carlsen. The teenager from Anand’s home city Chennai now sits at No. 8 in world rankings with the duo being the only two Indians inside the world’s top-10. R Praggnanandhaa, with 2727 points, is No.3 in India and ranked No.19 in the world.