Vidit Gujrathi calls on Gukesh to honour his promise of a special treat after World title

Vidit Gujrathi with D Gukesh (Photo: @viditchess/X/PTI)

D Gukesh will no doubt be drowning in a sea of honours and accolades upon landing in India, but fellow Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi will be standing by with a friendly reminder that the ‘treat' promised during Chess Olympiad still needs to be fulfilled.

Asked if he has had the chance to congratulate Gukesh on his win, Gujrathi said, "I know he is being bombarded with calls and messages right now. So, I am waiting for him to enjoy this glory for some time and then call."

"We have had a deal between ourselves, if he became the World Champion, he has to give me a treat. I think whatever I ask, I will get (laughs)."

At just 18 years old, Gukesh has done what many only dream of: becoming the youngest-ever world chess champion after obliterating China's Ding Liren. He didn't just win the World Championship in Singapore on Thursday - he obliterated a record held by Russia's Garry Kasparov, who was all of 22 when he grabbed the title in 1985.

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Gukesh had already made his mark as India's youngest-ever grandmaster at the ripe old age of 12 years, seven months, and 17 days - an accomplishment that had the chess world doing a collective double-take. To put this in perspective, Magnus Carlsen, the reigning superstar and five-time world champion, was older when he became the world's best.

Gukesh went on to prove he was exactly who everyone thought he was, after all, this is the same kid who, just six years ago, casually declared, "I want to become the youngest world chess champion."

The gravity of Thursday's achievement was made perfectly clear the moment he secured the requisite 7.5 points to Ding's 6.5 after clinching the 14th and final classical time control game of the match that seemed headed for a draw for the most part. Gukesh bursting into tears and embracing his father after nearly three weeks and 14 grueling games was a moment so unexpected that it could only be described as a rare slip in composure from the young man who, in public, is the living embodiment of shy and reserved, hardly ever giving anyone a glimpse of the human side.

"Initially, he was very reserved, and he would not interact so much with his teammates. In tournaments, he would not even speak with others. But during Olympiad, I saw a very different side of his. He let go of that intensity, that was rare. He was hanging out with us, laughing a lot, and we cracked many jokes. He transformed himself to take that pressure off and he seemed more casual in his approach outside the setting of chess. That is a difference I saw in his personality," remarked Gujrathi.

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When asked if this year marked the start of India's inevitable rise as the undisputed powerhouse of world chess, Gujrathi was certain that it would somehow magically draw legions of new players to the game.

"There is a new World Champion amongst us, and also the youngest-ever. Many people said that after Ding became the World Champion, the results that followed it were not so good. But now we have someone who has had a great run this year. I think what really changes is how India is perceived now. First, the Olympiad title, and now the World Champion also an Indian. We saw revolution happening when (Viswanathan) Anand was crowned the World Champion. This too will trigger a similar response. This is the beginning, I can only see good coming out of it," he said.

India's chess prowess today, of course, is deeply rooted in the success of its first Grandmaster, Anand, along with female chess luminary Koneru Humpy. Anand, of course, appeared out of thin air in the late 1980s to become the world's leading player, going on to win five world championships and staying at the top for nearly 25 years.

Then, of course, there was Humpy - the reigning women's world rapid chess champion - who nonchalantly became the youngest woman to achieve the GM title back in 2002. Now, after a modest lag of a decade or two, the current generation of Grandmasters has magically emerged, propelled by the decades-long domino effect left by Anand and Humpy. The baton has now been passed to the young Gukesh, and as things stand, in Gujrathi's words, this is really only the beginning!