India's chess superstar is here
Meet Gukesh
A few days ago, in the corridors of the Norway Chess 2025 tournament, the chess gods decided to have a little fun. Magnus Carlsen—yes, THE Magnus Carlsen, the chess genius and champion for over a decade found himself sitting across from an 18-year-old kid from India named Gukesh Dommaraju. Surely this would be just another routine demolition, right?
The game had started like any other and Carlsen built his advantage piece by piece. The supercomputers tracking the match were predicting that the world's #1 player was winning (maybe even easily). As the clock ticked down, something shifted. Carlsen made a crucial error. Then another. Suddenly, the teenager saw his chance and pounced upon it with precision. The crowd watching this, collectively shrieked in excitement.
A few minutes later, Gukesh delivered the final move on the chess-board and Carlsen slammed his fist onto the table and stood up in frustration. The Norwegian legend had just lost to a teenager who was carrying India's chess dreams on his shoulders. Prime Minister Modi congratulated Gukesh for this "exceptional achievement". The young champion had done something that seemed impossible just hours before.
I make all this sound as though Gukesh casually finished a regular day in high-school, tossed his backpack over his shoulder, hopped on a plane to Norway and whoops - checkmated THE Magnus Carlsen. Gukesh may have indeed worn a backpack, and yes, he did fly to Norway. But let me not pretend that he is just another teenager from India. He is the boy who most recently won the World Championship Title, beating China’s Ding Liren in Singapore.
Beating Carlsen is this teenager’s way of announcing, "Hello, world! I’m here, and I’m not just a little boy borrowing my big brother’s chessboard."
This week’s story on the Lighter Side is about India’s newest chess superstar.
Who is Gukesh?
Gukesh Dommaraju hails from a city that produced India’s first ever World Chess Champion - Chennai (and the champion was Viswanathan Anand, if you were wondering). When Gukesh was a first-grader, his well-meaning parents made the classic middle-class choice: "Let’s sign him up for extracurricular activities." Chess happened to be one of the after-school activities in his school.
His coach in school (V Bhaskar) thought the boy had potential and personally trained him. Within six months, Gukesh was a FIDE rated player (meaning you had to play a few tournaments against other rated players and win a few games). While Gukesh may have been skilled, what always stands out when you hear these stories is that a 7-year old had the commitment to turn up at his coaching classes and put in the hours of practice needed, without much grumbling and prodding.
What may have also helped Gukesh foster the right attitude is that Chennai has a vibrant chess ecosystem. Today, many of India’s grandmasters, including Murali Karthikeyan, Aravindh Chithambaram, Vaishali Rameshbabu, and, most famously, Praggnanandhaa R hail from this city. Many of them know each other from their school days, they share a good personal rapport and at the same time, remain hearty competitors at international tournaments.
When he was in Grade 3, Gukesh won the Asian Chess Championships. His parents knew little to nothing about chess, yet nurtured his interest in the game. So much so that his parents did two things - supported their son’s decision to leave formal schooling behind (Gukesh stopped going to school after Grade 4). His father, a doctor, quit his medical career to travel with his son for his chess tournaments throughout the year. His mother, Dr. Padma Kumari, a microbiologist, took on the responsibilities of earning and supporting the family.
In 2017, Gukesh won the Under-11 Indian Chess Championship. When a TV reporter requested him to give a brief interview, Gukesh stood in front of a camera, looked straight into the lens and made a declaration that would echo through the chess world. "I want to become the youngest world chess champion."
When Viswanathan Anand became the first Indian to hold the World Chess Champion title, he had inspired hundreds of Indian children to believe they too could conquer the 64 squares. Now, a 11-year from India had announced that he was not just going to win back the title, but would also be the youngest in the world to do so.
At 12, Gukesh became a grandmaster, making him the second-youngest in world history. (If you are a nerd for details - he made this record at 12 years 7 months and 17 days; he missed the previous record for the youngest GM in the world by 17 days. It was earlier held by Sergey Karjakin, a Russian player).
For Gukesh, after his grandmaster title, more wins and awards followed. But through every victory and defeat, every late-night study session analyzing grandmaster games, one dream burned brighter than all others. “I want to be in the glass box and bring back the World Chess Championship title to India. That is my dream."
The "glass box" he refers to, is the soundproof playing area where world championship matches happen. While most tournaments are held in open halls where players sit on regular tables, the glass box is specifically used for the most prestigious events. They help eliminate outside noise and create a controlled environment for the highest-stakes matches.
At 18, the glass box came calling for Gukesh. He was going to face China’s Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship Final in Dec 2024. For Gukesh, the best moment was not winning the tournament, it was the moment when he would step into that space - the glassbox. One part of his dream had now been fulfilled.
Now came the other part: the one where he was to become the youngest in the world to win the title. Since he had announced his dream in front of TV cameras, there was also the minor matter that 1.4 billion Indians were watching him with high hopes.
Going into the last game, both Gukesh and Ding were tied (both had equal points 6.5-6.5).
Each had two hours to make their first 40 moves. Imagine the pressure of staying focused continuously for 4 hours inside the glass box. It is a bit like you writing an exam for 4 hours without losing a second’s focus and every word of what you write is watched by the world on a giant TV screen.
At the end of 40 moves, Gukesh and Diren’s game was heading towards a boring draw. Both players had to move a little faster now. 30 seconds per player per move.
The pressure was building up. Ding made a mistake (he moved his rook to the wrong square). Across from him, 18-year-old Gukesh stayed calm, took a sip of water, and assessed the board. He quickly calculated how to win in just a few moves.
Three moves later, Ding resigned because he knew Gukesh would win easily.
18-year old Gukesh Dommaraju from India stood up from his chair. He could not believe what had just happened. He had became the youngest world champion ever, beating a record that had stood for decades. Walking out of the glass box, he ran to his father and the duo hugged, wept and danced in joy. For nerds - Gary Kasparov from Russia had been the youngest to win the title earlier, at age 22.
If Gukesh had already won the world champion title, what is the big deal with his win against Magnus Carlsen at the tournament in Norway a few days ago
Magnus Carlsen is still considered the strongest player in the world. He is ranked #1 globally and many believe he's the greatest of all time (GOAT) in the chess world, though honestly, at this point, he might as well be part-goat, part-chess-robot.
But here’s the funny part: in 2023, Magnus voluntarily gave up his World Championship title like it was an old sweater he got bored with (he had held onto that title for 10 long years, when Gukesh was still a kid). Ding Liren swooped in and grabbed it in 2023, but let’s be real—he didn’t actually beat Carlsen for it. And neither did Gukesh. Nope! Magnus just decided he was too cool for the whole thing.
So, until Gukesh actually faced him across the board and beat him at the game, how could he really believe he was the best?
Beating Carlsen was a huge win for Gukesh as it broke a psychological barrier for him. Imagine being the "best" cricketer in the world but never playing against India or Australia. Then, one day, you finally get your chance—and you smash the highest score ever against them. That’s what this was like.
Sure, being officially World Champion is nice and all, but beating the guy everyone worships? That is the stuff legends are made of.
Podcast this week
Why is a war from 1947 still bleeding into 2025, in Kashmir?
When the British packed up and left India in 1947, they didn’t just go home—they split the country in two. That ignited a fire in Kashmir that still burns today. When a group of tourists were killed recently in Pahalgam, it led me to wonder why can’t we put out this fire?
As ever, when I have questions like these, I pick up a book and bury my nose into it. Sometimes, I find answers and sometimes not. Ramachandra Guha’s book ‘India After Gandhi’ is the sort of book where you can find answers to many things. The stories I found there will make you question everything you thought you knew about the partition of India and Pakistan.
I put these stories together as a podcast series. This episode is part 1 of 3, where I narrate the story of how this conflict began in 1947.
References and sources
Chess.com - biography of Gukesh
Viswanathan Anand, about how Carlsen felt when he lost to Gukesh
How Chennai mints chess champions - a journalist’s take
If you would like to read previous pieces published on the Lighter Side, click here