Editorial: Gentleman’s game redux

It was a red letter day for India when Grandmaster D Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion at 18 years after beating defending champion Ding Liren in the 14th game of a nerve-wracking showdown to herald a new era of dominance by our chess players. Taking forward the legacy of Viswanathan Anand, Gukesh became only the second Indian to clinch the prestigious prize after the iconic player, who owned the crown five times in his career. Prior to Gukesh’s feat, the legendary Russian, Garry Kasparov was the youngest world champion when he won the title at the age of 22, dethroning Anatoly Karpov in 1985.

It has been a bountiful year for players from India, who won the Olympiad gold in both the men’s (Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi) and women’s events (Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, and team) for the first time. Gukesh’s victory was set into motion over a series of fortuitous events. His home city of Chennai, and the state government and the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, in particular, had played a crucial role — by stepping in to host the Chennai Grandmasters in Nov 2023, which Gukesh had won, and he subsequently qualified for the Candidates. Following his Candidates win in April, CM Stalin awarded the champ a lucrative incentive to help him prepare for the world championships. Gukesh is also part of TN’s Elite Scheme, which pitches in with funding to the tune of Rs 30 lakh to help athletes in training and competition.

Notwithstanding his qualification for the Candidates tournament a month ago, Gukesh wasn’t being viewed as the challenger for top rung tournaments, something even the legendary Magnus Carlsen had been vocal about. However, Gukesh displayed enormous resilience and patience to transform into a player deserving of the world championship title.

Beyond the optics of Gukesh being anointed the world champion, there are lessons for parents, who tend to balk at the proposition of their children taking up sports as a full time obsession (unless of course, it’s cricket). Gukesh’s journey to the top has been no cake walk, as it has required sacrifice from him and his parents, Rajinikanth, an ENT surgeon, and Padma, a microbiologist. His father was compelled to forego his practice seven years ago, in order to accompany his son to tournaments globally, while the onus of putting food on the table fell upon his mother. His parents even sought crowdfunding to nurture his dreams of becoming a grandmaster.

The other major takeaway from Gukesh’s moment in the limelight, as well as that of other emerging chess champs in the country is that our definition of being good at sports should not be handicapped by a myopic vision of excelling only in contact sports, athletics or the usual suspects, such as racquet sports, cricket or football. Our Sports Ministry was allocated Rs 3,442.32 crore in this year’s budget, a hike of Rs 45.36 crore compared to last year. The ministry’s flagship programme, Khelo India, was also allotted Rs 900 crore, an increase of Rs 20 crore from the previous budget. One can be optimistic that going forth, significant allocations are directed towards sports of a cerebral kind.