D Gukesh is currently joint-second at the ongoing Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, with a score of 1.5. He shares the position with Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sam Sevian.
He also lost to R. Praggnanandhaa in the opening round.
He won the World Championship title last year in December, defeating Ding Liren in Singapore. Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing tournament, he said, “It [world championship] was something maybe I just wanted more than anybody else. More than anything else that I wanted in my life so far.”
“I mean from my childhood I used to dream about it and I think I managed to make the most out of the opportunities that I got and that’s all you can do.”
The Indian GM revealed Viswanathan Anand’s role in his success. “I would think that a huge part of the success had to be Vishy sir. Not only by being an inspiration or role model, but also by taking upon himself to create an academy for the youngsters, together with my sponsor, WestBridge. They started the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy,” he said.
“I was a part of it. At that time I was just a 2500 grandmaster and then for sure helped a lot in me becoming a top player. Once the results started to show up the government support the corporate sponsorships and all that came naturally. It’s a bit of everything I think and you always need a bit of luck to go absolutely in your favor.”
The 19-year-old also feels that competition at the top level is intense, and he gave an example of his Indian counterparts.
“I think in the top 10, most of them are around the same. Most of it depends on who comes with a better mindset on that given day or in that specific tournament,” he said.
“Last year, for example, Arjun and I were doing great, but Pragg [Praggnanandhaa] was not doing great. This year Pragg has been winning a lot of tournaments. It mostly depends on who has that one per cent extra motivation or the one per cent extra energy. It is the little things that matter,” he added.
Gukesh is also the youngest-ever World champion, and the youngest player to have gone past a FIDE rating of 2750, which he did at the age of 17.