CHESS | I will play in more classical tournaments now, says Gukesh

The reigning World chess champion D. Gukesh has played quite well in both classical and rapid tournaments this year, but somehow has been unable to get crucial breakthroughs.

After finishing second and third in two classical tournaments — Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands) and Norway Chess (Stavanger) — Gukesh won the rapid section of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, Croatia.

The 19-year-old, however, says he intends to play more classical tournaments in the second half of the year.

“My last classical tournament was in Norway (May 26 to June 6). It was a decent tournament. [But] I have not played too many classical events,” said Gukesh, who was the chief guest here on Sunday during the felicitation function, organised by Velammal Nexus to felicitate 19-year-old Ashish, an alumnus, who scaled Mount Everest.

“I played in Tata Steel in January. I finished tied first. It was good. In the next part of the year, I will be playing more classical. I am looking forward to that.”

While expressing satisfaction in his play in classical and rapid, Gukesh admitted that he needs to improve in blitz. “My recent performance in Zagreb was good [first] in rapid. I still need to correct some mistakes in blitz. I think I am improving my performance,” he said.

The chess World Cup, to be held in either Ahmedabad or Goa in October, according to Gukesh, will be huge for Indian chess.

“In chess, there are not many knockouts. World Cup is the biggest knockout [since 2021] tournament. It is going to be held in India after the Chennai Olympiad. It is going to be a big event in India and an important tournament for Indian chess,” he added.

Gukesh said it’s inspiring to witness Divya Deshmukh triumph in the women’s World Cup in Batumi (Georgia) recently. “We basically grew up together, like playing the same tournaments right from when we were eight or nine years old, I think.

“It’s actually really inspiring the way she won the World Cup because it’s not a very easy tournament to win as you have to play for nearly a month. I’ve played the World Cup two times, so I know how difficult it is,” he said.