D Gukesh created history by becoming the youngest to win the FIDE Candidate Chess Tournament. His achievements have helped him become a household name in India and his mother Padma Kumari is extremely happy about this. She said that the family is not thinking too far ahead and enjoying the present.
Padma, who is a microbiologist was at the forefront of India’s battle against the Corona Virus. She worked at a hospital and was surrounded by patients, which often worried Gukesh. Known for his patience in chess, Gukesh used to marvel at the way his mother acted in times of crisis.
On Monday 17-year-old Gukesh became the youngest player to challenge for a world title, breaking the record of the great Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.
“He must be waiting for the World Championship,” an emotional Padma told PTI. It is one of the biggest chess tournaments. But we are not thinking too far ahead because we are going to celebrate this victory right now. We should remember this first.’
“Feeling very happy with his performance and achievement,” said Gukesh’s mother. This is an example of the hard work done by Gukesh. Padma Kumari said winning the FIDE Candidate competition was one of his dreams and it was a great feeling.
Tamil Nadu has given the country top Grandmasters like Viswanathan Anand, R Pragyanand and Arvind Chidambaram. However, Gukesh’s journey started in 2013 when he saw the famous match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. It was the championship game between two of the best minds that inspired Gukesh to take up chess.
Gukesh’s journey has been remarkable
Gukesh started playing the game when he was seven years old after watching some family members play,’ recalls Padma Kumari. In the same year, Gukesh watched the World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen and was inspired to play the game of chess.
‘Chess soon became his passion and we allowed him to pursue it. It turned out to be a good decision as he achieved every little thing step by step, said Padma Kumari.
Gukesh’s journey was not easy as his family spent their savings and even resorted to ‘crowd-funding’ (collecting money from people) to fulfil his dream. Padma Kumari said that after Gukesh became Grandmaster in 2019, the financial problems were solved.
There were some financial difficulties. But after he became Grandmaster, they started going away. Gukesh stopped attending school full-time after fourth grade to focus on chess. Although it was a difficult decision to make, Padma Kumari thanked Gukesh’s school (Velmal Vidyalaya Vidyalaya in Chennai) for being one of Gukesh’s biggest supporters.
Padma Kumari said, ‘The biggest challenge was deciding between his studies and chess. We had to give up (the study) and it was a difficult decision. His school is his biggest supporter. They allowed him to go to any competition whenever he wanted. When he was free, he would give exams. In the meantime, we thought of continuing to study chess as well as playing it. But from now on I think it’s full-time chess for him.’
