00:00Okay, from Mukesh, we're going to turn our attention to Gukesh, who joins us.
00:08Both quite similar, not just in their names, but in what they're achieving at the moment.
00:15Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for the youngest ever world chess champion
00:19in the history of the sport, just at 18 years of age.
00:25Gukesh, come.
00:27He's only the second Indian after Vishwanathan Anand to be crowned world chess champion.
00:34As I said, the youngest ever in history, and what a year he had in 2024, where he won the
00:41candidate's title, and then the world chess championship, the chess Olympiad, winning
00:45medals at an individual level, as well as for the country.
00:50Everything that could be won, Gukesh has done it, and it makes us very proud.
00:54He's also a Khel Ratna, just awarded that award as well from the president, Gukesh,
01:01first up.
01:02I spoke to you after you had won that title.
01:05Has life changed for you after that win over Ding?
01:09First of all, good afternoon all, I'm very glad to be here to see all of you.
01:17Thank you so much for the invite.
01:19And yeah, after the world championship, for sure, some things have changed, because becoming
01:28the world champion was like my childhood dream, and to have achieved that was like a very
01:35satisfying feeling.
01:38But yeah, in my career, I mean, like the first week or two, I was super excited, I was like
01:44celebrating, but then next tournament started coming up, I started preparing again.
01:49But yeah, a few things have changed, like my schedule is a bit more hectic now.
01:56And yeah, like when I go out, I generally get recognized much more than before.
02:04But other than that, nothing too huge.
02:08When he says it was his childhood dream, he's not just, you know, saying the most cliche
02:12line in the world.
02:13There is a video of Gukesh, 12 year old Gukesh, who said that he's going to be world champion
02:19and sure enough, six years later, he was the world champion.
02:24You said how life has changed.
02:25You know, I don't want to embarrass you.
02:28But the bank balance has also changed.
02:29I was looking at the prize money won on last count, I think he had won about 13 crore Indian
02:35rupees just last year, one of the highest in the world of chess.
02:40And that's not counting the many prize money that was offered from various state governments.
02:44I don't want to embarrass you, but I want you to tell us, what does this mean to you,
02:51this prize money?
02:52Because you come from a very humble background.
02:54Your parents made a lot of sacrifices for you to be here.
02:57Yeah, for sure.
03:00I mean, my parents, I think, like, I'm really glad that I could do this for my parents more
03:09than the financial aspect.
03:11Because throughout my career, I think they were facing, I say they because they were
03:18not allowing me to realize what the struggles that they were going through.
03:23But they did go through a lot of financial struggles.
03:25And I remember, like, when I was around 2018, 2019, we were basically playing tournaments.
03:35Basically, my parents' friends, they were sponsoring me to play tournaments abroad.
03:40And it was quite difficult at that time.
03:42And we had a lot of help from very, very nice people and very selfless people who came forward
03:51to help.
03:53And now, yeah, the last year was financially as well very, very good for us.
04:05And I think it means a lot to me in a sense that my parents can not think about money
04:12anymore.
04:13We can lead a comfortable life, not struggle like before.
04:16I'm sure they're very proud parents.
04:19I asked him at the start how life has changed.
04:22And he, you must have seen various reactions, but I have something very special to show
04:25you which you probably wouldn't have seen.
04:28We cover a lot of chess at India today.
04:31We have a platform called Sports Today, where we do lives whenever your match is on.
04:36I want to show you a clip from our platform Sports Today.
04:39This is seconds after Gukesh had been crowned world champions.
04:44I want you to see what happened in Australia.
04:47I'm just struggling, struggling to just compose myself overcome with a lot of emotion right
04:53now.
04:54And why should he not be?
04:55After all, we've all witnessed a piece of history just moments back.
04:59D Gukesh, I'll actually let Siddharth take this news to you.
05:02Yes, some of you may have been informed by now, but it's our duty to tell you what exactly
05:06is it that happened and how big is it really when you talk about chess.
05:10Siddharth, by the way, I can tell you has been diligently following chess for so long.
05:15He was on a call with his uncle.
05:18Yeah, don't do this, Rishi.
05:22And he can't believe.
05:24I really couldn't believe it.
05:26Things have come out so beautifully.
05:28I mean, look at him.
05:30Rishi also deserves a massive applause for winning.
05:35Right.
05:36Did you have any idea?
05:37This is Siddharth.
05:38He covers chess for us.
05:40He broke down once you became world champion.
05:44I was just talking to him.
05:45He asked me to watch the video carefully.
05:47Now I understand why.
05:49Do you now realize the kind of joy that you brought about to this country?
05:54I'm very glad to see that.
05:56I was actually joking after the match that like, I mean, everybody like I met said they
06:04had tears in their eyes and I was like joking.
06:06The whole world saw me cry, but I didn't watch a single person cry because I was inside the
06:11playing hall.
06:12Yeah.
06:13I understand.
06:14Yeah.
06:15No, no, you are absolutely brilliant.
06:17But, you know, he just mentioned the word joking and I don't associate joking with chess
06:22players.
06:23I consider them very serious.
06:24I'll show you an example of that.
06:26We have something here.
06:28There are a group of girls called Botes sisters and they make a lot of chess content.
06:34They got a picture with Gukesh after he was world champion and the tweet read, why does
06:38it look like Gukesh is held hostage?
06:40Because that's how serious Gukesh is.
06:42This went viral.
06:44Were you scared?
06:45I see you more scared here than when you were playing that World Chess Championship.
06:49Squeeze between two pretty girls.
06:51No, I mean, I like in general, people keep saying, why don't you smile for pictures?
07:01It's just very unnatural for me.
07:03So, but I'm not like a serious person or anything.
07:07I'm in general casual, but just smiling for pictures is still something that I have to
07:12work on.
07:13Okay.
07:14We've got to smile from him, you know.
07:16But, but that he has a fun side.
07:18I also discovered that he has a fun side to him and adventurous side at that.
07:23He won the World Championship in Singapore and you would think that after that he would
07:28need some quiet time to relax because mentally it's very exhausting.
07:33But I'd like to show you how he unbound after winning that title.
07:38He went to a park very close by in Singapore and this is what he did.
07:43Gukesh, Chess Champion there, going for his first bungee jump.
07:47How are you feeling, sir?
07:48Scared.
07:49Are you ready for this, Gukesh?
07:51I think so, yeah.
08:02I am the World Champion.
08:11Brilliant.
08:12Brilliant.
08:13This is how he celebrated his World Championship win.
08:16When was your heart pumping harder?
08:19Was it those last moments with Ding when he made that blunder and you won or was it here
08:24standing on top?
08:25It was actually quite similar.
08:28So basically we made this deal like in between the match, me and my trainer, we made this
08:37deal and then we just went through with it.
08:39Till I got to the edge, I didn't feel scared at all.
08:42But then once I got there, I was like, why am I doing this?
08:45But it was fun.
08:47It was also like a nice, like, I don't know, it was just nice bonding time.
08:55I mean, it was with me, both me and my trainer did it and a lot of friends joined us.
09:01So it was a lot of fun, actually.
09:04Let's talk about the revolution that has come about in India.
09:08You know, sometime back you had the US of A dominating, you had Russia dominating chess.
09:15Now I'm proud to say that India has the most players in the top hundred.
09:20Thirteen Indian players are in the top hundred, the most in top ten.
09:24There are three, Gokesh is of course world number three, but three Indians in the top ten.
09:28What is brought about this chess revolution here in India, you reckon?
09:32I think a lot of factors play a role here.
09:41I think one of the biggest contributions without a doubt is what Vishy sir has been doing.
09:51Not only his achievements, not only being an inspiration, but around 2020 December,
09:58he partnered with Westbridge to launch Westbridge Jnanan Chess Academy.
10:03I'm a student in the academy and Vishy sir's vision was to select the top talented youngsters at that time,
10:16in the lockdown, because there were no tournaments happening.
10:18It was all online and a lot of people were not working as hard.
10:23So it was a great moment for us to actually take the advantage.
10:27In India, it was super exciting for me and I'm sure for a lot of youngsters,
10:33because to get in touch with Vishy sir, to discuss chess with him regularly was so motivating.
10:39The lockdown, the pandemic didn't feel like a waste of time.
10:43We were actually working super hard.
10:46So that was very nice, what Vishy sir and Westbridge did.
10:52So that is a huge part.
10:55And also, I guess, in the lockdown, we had this streaming, chess streaming.
11:02A lot of celebrities from other fields came and a lot of people took interest in chess.
11:10And also chess has this benefit that you don't have to step out of the house to play.
11:14So it was a perfect hobby at that time.
11:17And after the lockdown, we see clearly a huge boom happening.
11:22And I think also recently, at least in the last couple of years,
11:28the support from government and the corporate sponsorships are great.
11:34Players are constantly getting rewarded for the wins.
11:39After the Olympiad, Candidates, World Championship, I was rewarded.
11:44And we could see how much it means to government and the people of India about
11:51not only mine, but whenever Prague or Arjun or any of the Indian player wins something,
11:57it's getting really big and I'm really, really honored to be a part of this revolution.
12:03Okay, talk about turning adversity into your advantage.
12:06That's what the young bunch of Indian chess players have done.
12:09As he mentioned, during COVID, you saw these bunch of youngsters coming up.
12:13They're all known as Vishy's children because Vishwanathan Anand has mentored all of them.
12:17And now you have a world champion in Gukesh.
12:19One thing, Gukesh, I know we're running out of time, but I really wanted to know,
12:23as a novice, how many moves are you thinking in advance?
12:28You know, when we play at best, it's one or two moves I'm thinking what I'm going to do.
12:33You, for example, how many moves?
12:37It majorly depends on the specific situation.
12:41Depends on the position, it depends on the opponent.
12:45So basically in certain positions where there are like several options,
12:50if I make one move, like opponent has like four or five options,
12:53and then again it stays the same for the next five moves.
12:56You don't calculate that much. It's maximum like five or six moves ahead
13:01because there are a lot of branches.
13:03But if there is one clear path, like I make one move, opponent has one reply and so on,
13:08easily ten or fifteen or even more than that.
13:12So it majorly depends on the position.
13:16Fifteen moves, wow. No wonder you can beat a computer.
13:19Mental fatigue, tell us about that because us as amateur players,
13:23if I play a hard game of chess, it takes me a full day to recover.
13:26You play, you know, sometimes three hours, four hours, even longer than that
13:30and back-to-back fourteen matches championship you have.
13:33How do you recover mentally?
13:37Yeah, for sure like long games are very tiring because,
13:45I mean you, in general like you don't stay focused for the whole duration of five or six hours,
13:51but in the critical moments you have to stay focused and
13:55those critical moments are also where there are like,
13:59where the pressure is super high and it takes a toll on you.
14:02But for me, I personally, like lot of players have their own ways to deal with it.
14:07For me, it's about following a routine and during a tournament,
14:10sleeping well, eating well and just and also I,
14:16that's why I think chess players are,
14:19it's important for chess players also to be physically fit
14:23because it's obviously connected with mental well-being as well.
14:26And he does travel with a mental conditioning coach as well as most players do
14:31and that probably also helps them.
14:33Before I let you go, I have to ask you about a very critical juncture
14:38that the world of chess finds itself in.
14:40You know, it is split between freestyle chess and classical chess.
14:44Where do you see chess going in the future?
14:46Because now you have two different sets of people supporting different type of formats.
14:52Could you have a split in the world of chess or you're not really worried about that?
14:57I don't think much about it.
14:59I mean, freestyle I'm happy to play and I'm happy that it's a new format.
15:05It's an exciting thing.
15:07I mean, it changes how chess has been seen.
15:11But it's too early to say.
15:13I mean, we've had like two serious tournaments in freestyle.
15:16So, it's too early to say.
15:19I mean, I wish freestyle becomes big, but I don't see it like taking over standard chess
15:27because just the history that standard chess has, I think, has more value.
15:33And I think still the world championship cycle holds the biggest importance for now.
15:41But yeah, it's a great addition to classical rapid blitz.
15:45Freestyle is a great addition.
15:47But yeah, we just have to see how it goes.
15:49And you're open to all?
15:50I'm open to all.
15:51Okay.
15:52Time is up, but I can't let you go without doing one thing.
15:55For those of you who don't know, you know, this is a quiet, reserved young boy.
16:00But there's one thing that's gone viral about Gukesh is his alpha male walk.
16:04I don't know if you've seen it.
16:06He always checks out the other opponents with his hands in his pocket and his tight
16:10and he checks what they are doing.
16:12I want you to just do your alpha walk once.
16:15Come on.
16:16Let people see.
16:17Have you got some music?
16:41This is how he keeps a tab on the other opponents,
16:43walking like this on their table to intimidate them.
16:45But thank you so much, Gukesh, for taking our time and speaking to us here in India today.
16:50Wishing you all the very best.
