India’s young players know the power of hard work: Kunte
Indian GM says the fact that Gukesh’s win was talked about at the Houses of the Parliament shows the impact of the feat
Mumbai: Less than 24 hours after his win, the speakers of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha talked about D Gukesh’s World Chess Championship triumph during their respective sessions. To Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte, this was the first indication of the impact Gukesh’s win has had in India. “This shows how serious they are becoming,” Kunte told HT. “Now it’s time for the administration to utilise the impact of the achievement and create opportunities for the next generation.”
On Thursday, Gukesh became only the second Indian to win a classical format World Championship title after he beat China’s Ding Liren in the 14th game of their match in Singapore. It was a perfect way for the 18-year-old from Chennai to cap off a memorable year. Not just for himself, but for Indian chess in general.
In April, Gukesh, against the odds, booked his spot in the World Championship match by winning the Candidates in Toronto. By June, Divya Deshmukh won the women’s title at the Junior World Chess Championship, and then the open and women’s teams won historic gold medals at the Olympiad in September.
The crescendo of optimism continued with each passing win, all culminating with the World Championship. And this was the first time in over a decade that this high degree of expectation had been placed on Indian chess. “This was the first time in 10 years that we had someone who could challenge for the title, and that’s why there was so much importance on Gukesh’s win,” explained GM Pravin Thipsay.
“This year, we have been continuously seeing chess in the news because of all the titles. And because of that continuity, the game is been in the limelight more often.”
The awareness has started to come because of the triumphs, but, Thipsay explained, it is still uncertain what kind of long-term impact the win would have in the more serious chess-playing community in the country.
“We have about six crore online chess players, but only about 36,000 play official tournaments recognised by FIDE and the All India Chess Federation,” Thipsay said. “And women players are not even 10% of that, which means we are tapping into a very small per cent of the population.”
Thipsay asserted that the support for players tends to come at a time when they do not need it as much. A change there would be the best possible impact of Gukesh’s win.
After his win on Thursday, Gukesh talked about how he had to bank on the support of family and friends after his parents had run out of funds supporting the youngster’s chess pursuits. “Right now, (the titles are) the glory of individual success and individual sacrifices of each player,” Thipsay added.
“They are getting sponsors now, but earlier it was all on their parents to look after the expenditure. The impact of Gukesh’s win should be to solve the problem of supporting the next generation of players so that they don’t have to go through the struggles like Gukesh and the other players of this generation have faced.”
Chess has a long way to go, but the game still has taken great strides since the time Viswanathan Anand became the first Indian to become world champion, when he won the first of his five crowns in 2000. “When Vishy won it, he did not have any backing, he did it all alone, without any help from the government or the Indian federation,” said Kunte. “Now things are different, and Anand’s experience has been important for the youngsters to climb the ladder quickly.”
From Anand being the only Indian in the top 10, India now has Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh ranked four and five in the world respectively.
But importantly for Kunte, the recent success in the game has come on the back of the work put in by a young generation of players – Gukesh is 18, R Praggnanandhaa and Deshmukh are 19, while Erigaisi is 21. There is also 20-year-old Nihal Sarin and 18-year-old Raunak Sadhwani steadily climbing the ladder. Each has a long career ahead of them with plenty of time left in the limelight.
“Their impact,” Kunte said, “will be there for a long time.”
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