Gukesh: ‘My desire to win is probably stronger than my fear of losing… I’m a bit of a risk-taker’ | Chess News
When Gukesh became the 18th world champion of the world, one of the first things that struck him was how for many years the wallpaper on his laptop bore the faces of the 16 world champions in hory.
“This was before Ding Liren became world champion. But here I recently realised that now I am part of this group,” Gukesh told the official YouTube handle of FIDE in his first interview after becoming world champion.
The 18-year-old had previously shared how when Viswanathan Anand had lost the crown to Magnus Carlsen in 2013, he had dreamed of being the one to bring it back to India. After becoming the world champion, that dream is coming true.
“For 11 years, this trophy was not home. I’m glad that I will be the one to take it back home,” he said, laying a subtle emphasis on the word home reiterating it twice with a smile.
In Singapore, there were multiple times when he pressed for the game to go on even when he was in a worse position on the board. Twice he declined a draw offer from his opponent even when he was in a worse position on the board. Asked about appetite to take risks in games that had everything riding on them, Gukesh said: “My desire to win is probably stronger than my fear of losing. Maybe it’s because of my young age. I’m a more ambitious player. From the initial few games, it was clear that Ding was not taking on the chances that he was given. So I had a bit more freedom to push. I felt the freedom to push my luck a bit. He was doing great at defending tenaciously. But he was not taking on the chances he had. In general, I agree, I’m a bit of a risk-taker.”
Gukesh said that he started to realise that Ding was playing cautiously in the second game when he “went too easy on me”.
“He could pushed more in game 2. He wasn’t running any serious risks. It was not a huge surprise, because that’s how he was playing throughout the year. He would defend tenaciously. But when he had chances he was taking the safer routes,” said Gukesh.
Now that he is the world champion, it comes with a target on his back. In barely two years, he will find himself defending the crown.
“I’m always up for challenges. The stronger the challenge, the more effort you put in, but the sweeter the outcome,” he smiled. “I’m sure I haven’t peaked yet. And I am sure I haven’t reached my full potential,” he added.
In the coming days, though, there will be other things occupying his mind slightly more than chess.
When Ding revealed to the world that he had not had ice cream in Singapore after misunderstanding a question, it got Gukesh thinking as well.
“I realised I have also not had ice cream in over a year. Probably, like Ding, I’ll also have some ice cream now!”
As he became world champion, two old clips of him dancing went viral. In the first one, he’s doing the Manasilayo dance with friends. There’s another clip of him dancing after Team India’s Olympiad golds. Asked if there would be a lot of dancing when he gets back home, Gukesh said: “I have a lot of friends who are great dancers. At every get-together they’re usually the ones dancing. And I’m usually the one sitting in a corner, too shy to dance. At the Olympiad, it was a huge high for us. We were really emotional after what we had done. And when that Olympiad video went viral my friends from back home saw it and forced me to dance in that Manasilayo video. So yeah, there will probably be some dancing when I go back home.”
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