Gukesh sows hopes of more kids making next move to 64 squares
Times of India | 14 December 2024
Kolkata: Like the rest of India, the city of joy, too, is celebrating D Gukesh's crowning glory as he edged past defending champion Ding Liren to emerge the world chess champion. Even though there weren't celebratory fireworks that normally accompanies success in cricket, innumerable pockets in the city burst into jubilation.
The city's two finest chess players, Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Surya Sekhar Ganguly, were in a euphoric mood. "India has a new youth icon now," Barua gushed, while sharing his joy with TOI. "Vishy Anand showed us the path and now Gukesh has taken it forward. We were not expecting another world champion from India so soon."
Ganguly was playing in Qatar and the timing of his match on Thursday clashed with that of Gukesh's. "When I was told about the result, I rushed to the commentators' room and on the screen saw Gukesh crying while arranging the pieces," he said. "Believe me, I have never felt so happy seeing someone crying."
Ganguly added that the main thing about Gukesh and his contemporaries is that they are all very down to earth. "I have been watching them from a very tender age and although they are excellent on the board, all of them are quite grounded. They know how to go about their job without much hype."
With 11 GMs, the city has made significant contributions to the game. However, there seems to be a step that Kolkata seems to be missing. "To reach the level where Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi are now, you have to devote around 8-10 hours every day to the game. Once education becomes the most important thing, it's impossible to give even half that time," India's second GM Barua said.
Barua, who has been associated with the ‘Chess in School' programme, felt there was a role of educational institutions in nurturing a champion. The Velammal Vidyalaya School in Chennai is one such place that has produced chess players in numbers. "I feel schools should now realise that they too have a role to play in producing a champion. Studies will be affected if you are playing any game at the highest level. Gukesh too had to drop out of school. It's time schools in Bengal back a child who shows potential in any game," he added.
Bengal's seventh GM Diptayan Ghosh was happy to see India's new world champion. "It was quite inspiring to see the world chess title returning to India. We have not seen Anand sir winning the title. But as I had played against Gukesh, I could associate with this triumph more," said the 26-year-old, who drew twice against Gukesh in the Odisha Open and Delhi Open.
The World Championship match was shown live on YouTube channels in chess academies in the city. "Our students keenly watched the games in the academy every day," said Deep Dutta of Orchid Chess Academy in south Kolkata. Dutta felt his students could associate with Gukesh more as the Chennai boy too came the hard way just like most of them are going through.
Interestingly, even the parents got glued to the contest. "Chess does not always get big space in the media but this world championship match got huge coverage, which made parents take interest," he pointed out.
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