It was an emotional evening for Gukesh Dommaraju as he soaked in his sudden coronation as the youngest chess world champion in history. But the 18-year-old quickly had to compose himself and faced a barrage of questions from the media in Singapore. Among the many questions he was asked in about 50 minutes, a couple got him thinking about the future. What next for the teenager who has reached the top of the chess world?
Gukesh, even in his crowning moment of glory, never lost perspective. “My goal is to play at the top level for as long as possible. I have just started my journey. I want to have a very long career and be at the very top,” he said, before quickly adding: “Being world champion doesn’t mean I’m the best player, obviously that’s Magnus.”
Gukesh said, ‘Knowing that someone is at such a high level will be a motivating factor for him in the years to come. “It will help me continue to do the right things, work hard and strive to reach the level of greatness that Magnus achieved.”
Later, there was a more specific question thrown at him: Who does he want to be his next opponent – his teammates, who dominated the Chess Olympiad this year, or the great Carlson? For context, Carlsen said he would not defend his World Championship title in 2022 as he was not interested in playing a match he had won five times, even though it was historically significant. “I don’t rule out future participation, but I don’t count on it either,” Karlsson was quoted as saying by Chess.com in July 2022.
“It will be amazing to play against Magnus in the World Championship, it will be the toughest challenge in chess. I mean, it depends on Magnus, but I want to test myself against the best player in the world,” said Gukesh.
Speaking about his Indian teammates’ potential takeover, Gukesh added: “Arjun, Prag, Nihal, Vidit… – a lot of these guys are doing a lot for chess and Indian chess. We won the Olympiad which was a great experience for me and the team. I am sure that we will have a very long career and I hope that we will all keep fighting against each other, pushing, motivating each other, and even in team competitions we will play together and win a lot. I also want to play against Indian opponents in the World Championship.
Saying it was a dream he had been chasing all along, Gukesh recalled another moment Carlson had when he was a child, aged 7. “When I was watching the match (Vishy vs Carlson in Chennai) in 2013, I was in the stands. And I was looking inside the glass box and I thought it would be great to sit inside for a day (playing). And then when Magnus won I thought That I really want to bring the title back to India and this dream that I had more than 10 years ago is the most important thing in my life so far,” said Gukesh.
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