D Gukesh created history for India by becoming the winner of the World Chess Championship which was held on Tuesday in Singapore. He defeated China’s Ding Liren who was the winner of last year’s World chess Championship. Gukesh defeated Ding by 7.5-6.5 in the title match and with this he has now become the youngest ever World Chess Champion at the age of 18. The Indian grandmaster was seen with teary eyes after his win which has been has dream since he was 11 years old. A video also went viral on the internet from the time when he was 11, where he said that his dream was to win the World chess Championship. The whole of India is proud and congratulations poured in from his fans from all over the world.
However despite a sweeping victory, several controversies have developed around Gukesh, including displeasure shown by other renowned chess players like Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen. On one hand Kramnik took to Twitter and called the match the ‘end of chess as we know it’ , and on another, Magnus called it ‘a second or third-round match of an open tournament.’ As a reply, the Indian Legendary Chess player, a five-time world champion, Viswanathan Anand, who is also Gukesh’s Mentor asked Gukesh to embrace criticism as a part of success and that criticism comes with every match.
When asked to Gukesh if he was hurt by Magnus’ comment, he said “Not Really”. He continues to say that
“I get that maybe in some of the games, the quality was not high but I think the world championship matches are decided not purely by chess but by who has the better character and who has the better willpower. And I think those qualities, I did show quite well.”
“And the pure chess part, it was not at a very high level as I would have liked it to be because it’s a new experience for me. So the workload was different, the pressure was different,”
“It’s understandable that I was a bit off but I managed to strike at the critical moments, which I am happy about,”
Gukesh seems unfazed by the criticism and totally focusing on the love he is receiving. When he posted about his win on X, even Elon Musk congratulated him!
