From The Start Gukesh Wanted To Become Youngest World Chess Champion: Coach GM Vishnu Prasanna

Coach GM Vishnu Prasanna: It was in January 2019, the world’s second youngest and India’s youngest chess Grandmaster (GM) D. Gukesh then 12-years announced he would like to become the youngest world champion.

And five years later, he is one step away from his ambition.

Winning the recent Candidates Tournament held in Toronto, ahead of several higher rated players, Gukesh will be the challenger for the world title held by the reigning champion from China GM Ding Liren.

“Even as an eleven year old kid, Gukesh used to be serious while attending the chess coaching classes. While other kids used to demand the answers for chess problems, Gukesh used to ask me not to disclose the solution till he works it out,” GM Vishnu Prasanna told IANS.

After the class, the serious Gukesh will turn playful and start joking with other kids. But during the coaching sessions, Gukesh will be very serious and focused, Prasanna said.

The 34-year old Prasanna began coaching Gukesh in 2017 when he had an ELO rating of about 2,300.

“From the start, Gukesh would discuss how to become a world champion. We would discuss various board situations through different games,” Prasanna said.

According to him, children at about that age –about 11 years- will be full of chess tricks and tactics.

“But Gukesh was more of a positional player. It was an advantage. He was able to understand a position and accordingly strategise,” Prasanna added.

The young Gukesh used to listen keenly to his coach Prasanna when he talked about complex positions.

Prasanna was very impressed with his young ward’s ability to focus, maturity being a workaholic.

“Initially he was a bit upset for not becoming the youngest GM in the world and had said he had lost one night sleep. But that is in the past. Now compartmentalizes things. His recovery after losing a game is fast,” Prasanna added.

It should be noted that Prasanna has coached several notable players like GMs Leon Mendonca, International Master (IM) V.S.Rathnavel, Woman GM V.Varshini, WIM K.Priyanka and others.

“I have known Gukesh as a very young boy. I used to take Gukesh along with my daughter Rakshitta for overseas tournaments whenever his parents were not able to accompany him. Similarly, they used to do that when we were not able to accompany Rakshitta for overseas events," Woman International Master (WIM) Sai Meera Ravi, the wife of IM T.S.Ravi and mother of Woman GM Rakshitta Ravi, told IANS.

“Even as a 10-year-old boy, Gukesh was very disciplined and mature. He used to get up early and finish his morning ablutions first so that there is no fight for the bathroom," Sai Meera recalled.

“Gukesh likes to create a complicated position on the chess board which would make his opponent work more calculations and commit mistakes,” Rakshitta told IANS.

Agreeing with her Prasanna added: “Gukesh will not play sharp positions. He is good in unclear positions and will focus on his strengths.”

While Gukesh’s ELO ratings began to go up, Prasanna felt that his ward needed additional and secret weapons other than chess.

“So the focus was on meditation, yoga and breathing exercises. This gave him a lot of emotional stability,” Prasanna said.

Gukesh’s emotional stability is what is being described as him having nerves of steel.

Perhaps that is why, Gukesh was not at all perturbed with the former world chess champion Magus Carlsen’s comment ahead of the Candidates Tournament that he can’t imagine the Indian teenager winning the event. It will be a bad event for the youngster.

In the last few months, Gukesh’s mindset change is very evident. The way he recovered from the seventh round loss in the Candidates Tournament was remarkable, Prasanna remarked.

Prasanna was confident that Gukesh will win the Candidates Tournament as he was in good shape and well rested.

“Prior to the tournament we were talking about winning the Candidates,” Prasanna said.

Even though the Polish GM Grzegorz Gajewski became Gukesh’s second, the latter continued to check out with Prasanna on certain aspects.

As for the title clash against Liren and what Gukesh should do Prasanna said: “He has to work on some of the weaknesses in his games. He has to increase his range of positions. He has to widen his repertoire while playing with white pieces as a sizable number of his wins are with black pieces.”

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at [e-mail])