My defeat in the seventh round inspired me to pursue the title: Gukesh

Most sportsmen find that winning is their greatest source of motivation, but not the history-making teenage Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh. He said that his defeat against Iran’s Firouzja Alireza in the seventh round gave him the “energy” he needed to become the youngest Candidates chess champion.

The 17-year-old from Chennai, whose mother is a scientist and father is an ENT surgeon, won the coveted competition and made history by drawing his match against American Hikaru Nakamura in the 14th and final round.

Later this year, he will face Ding Liren of China in that match. “I was feeling great right away, but I was really upset after losing to Alireza in the seventh round.” It was an agonizing defeat. However, I took a rest day the next day and felt fantastic,” Gukesh said in a zoom interview with PTI videos from Toronto.
“I guess the loss gave me the drive and inspiration. He said, “After the defeat, I really believed that I could really go for the victories if I keep doing the right thing and am in the proper frame of mind.

Following five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, Gukesh became only the second Indian to win the Candidates. In the process, he beat the legendary Garry Kasparov’s record, which stood for forty years. In 1984, at the age of 22, Kasparov became the youngest player to contend for the world championship.

The third-youngest Grandmaster in the world gave this reflection on his experience with the tournament: “The focus from the beginning of the tournament was to trust the process, to be in the right mindset and play the right chess.” I believe I was able to perform effectively throughout the competition, and I count myself lucky that the outcomes favored me.