He was the undoubted star of last year’s Chess Olympiad in Chennai, and now D. Gukesh is excited about the Asian Games, beginning at Hangzhou later this month.
Chess is making a comeback to the Asian Games after a gap of 13 years, just in time for the massively talented young Indians like Gukesh.
“I am very excited about my first ever Asian Games,” he said at a media interaction here on Thursday. “It is a prestigious event and I look forward to watching athletes in other sports. I love badminton, and I would like to watch it if I could.”
Gukesh, who recently broke into the World top 10, believes India has fair chances on the chessboard. “But there are other strong teams,” he said. “And we had a camp here with Boris Gelfand. It went off very well. It was very tiring, which is usually good. The camp was brilliant.”
The 17-year-old didn’t have a particularly good time at the rapid section of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament, as he could finish only sixth. “Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (the champion) was clearly the best player here,” he said.
He sounded happy with his win against R. Praggnanandhaa, the other teenaged sensation from Chennai, though. “It was a very interesting game and I wanted to win it,” he said. “I chose a sharp opening. And the plan worked out well.”
Gukesh should be hoping to do better in the blitz section of the tournament, starting on Friday.
