Exclusive | 'Indian team has a harmonious group but cannot say they are dominant yet', says Loek van Wely

This year has been like no other as far as Indian chess is concerned. Some of India’s young chess grandmasters have enjoyed a breakthrough 2024 season, and one gets a feeling that it’s only the start of a massive chess revolution in India. D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, and Arjun Erigaisi are a few of the many names who recently dominated India’s gold medal-winning run across the Open and Women’s categories at the 45th Chess Olympiad in September.

Gukesh, in fact, has been the standout chess player for India this year. He secured the FIDE Candidates tournament title earlier this year and faces a big contest against China’s Ding Liren in the World Championship match, scheduled to take place in Singapore from 20 November to 15 December.

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While Gukesh is on a high, Ding Liren has faced form and mental challenges, which has raised questions regarding his potential to defend the World Championship title.

Dutch Grandmaster Loek van Wely, who is currently coaching Triveni Continental Kings at the 2024 Global Chess League in London, has followed Indian chess for quite a while now. He spoke exclusively to Firstpost on India’s Olympiad victory, D Gukesh vs Ding Liren World Championship match, the GCL, and more.

Excerpts:   

The Indian chess teams had a memorable campaign at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Hungary. And it’s a huge achievement. So what are your views on India’s title victory? 

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van Wely: I have to say I was mainly following the men, not the women. I was myself the captain of the Italian national team. I played in 14 Olympics myself for the Dutch national team.

So, I’ve been witnessing the development of Indian chess. Viswanathan Anand has carried on India’s chess legacy for a long time. At the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, India were really close, there was this crucial game between Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov which I think Gukesh should have won.

This year, the Indian team played really well. They managed to cope with the pressure. And I think at some point it was going to happen. Yeah, I just feel a little bit sad for Vishy that he’s not part of the team because he was actually one of the main reasons for its success. He is the biggest inspiration for all the young kids, you know, and he has been India’s frontrunner for 30 years and he’s a five-time world champion.

So, with such a guy as an inspirational leader, if you don’t win Olympic gold at some point, it would be a big failure.

What makes India such a strong force in chess? 

van Wely: I was in India in August during the Paris Olympic Games. When you see, the number of medals India won in the Olympic games, which to be honest, was not very impressive if you have like 1.4 billion people. When it comes to chess, however, it’s clear that India is good at this intellectual game.

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There’s a lot of talent there, but the talent needs to be pushed. It’s not in the system. Let’s say, in China, the system is actually pushing the players, but here it’s like a lot of private companies that are supporting the players. And that’s why a lot of Indian players have been able to travel abroad to play and also hire a lot of coaches. You have so much talent combined with so much support and money and possibilities, then I think it’s a no-brainer that this was going to happen.

D Gukesh versus Ding Liren, a world championship match, uh, what are your expectations from the game?

van Wely: I’m not supporting any player, instead I’m hoping for a tense match. But right now, if you saw how Gukesh was playing in the Olympiad and how Ding Liren is doing, I’m fearing the worst for Ding Liren. But still, Ding Liren has this World Championship match experience, which makes it special.

You cannot really compare it to, let’s say, playing the Candidates or Olympiad. I mean, this is really something. And I believe, for example, when Vishy played the match with Carlsen in India. I feel that playing in India for him (Vishy) was a disadvantage because he faced that extra pressure.

As far as Ding Liren is concerned, he has been a wreck. He has not been himself. Maybe also for Gukesh, the pressure will get to him at some point. But I don’t know, maybe, miraculously Ding Liren will recover somehow, but, if you look at his recent form, things are looking really good for Gukesh, but on the other hand, you shouldn’t celebrate too early in these situations.

For example, if you saw how the Ian Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren match went, Ding Liren was obviously down. But still, Nepo failed to finish him off, you know, so there’s always something special going on in these world championship matches. People make mistakes, which they normally wouldn’t do, but it’s just because of the pressure. And Gukesh is still a young kid. He’s still a teenager, yeah. He hasn’t seen much yet, you know.

What do you think are some reasons behind India producing young grandmasters?

van Wely: I’ve seen Pragnananda playing once in Holland and to be honest, I thought, this guy is not very talented. But, you know, I was wrong. I also saw Gukesh at an early age, playing in a tournament in Vietnam.

In India, you have this huge base of players. There’s this pyramid where some guys always go to the top end. It’s clear that in India you love chess much more than, let’s say in the Netherlands. In India, you have much more possibilities to develop yourself as a chess player.

So, do you think that India are already dominating world chess by producing young and high-quality players, or is it too early to say that?

van Wely: I think that’s probably the right conclusion right now, at least about the men. Because let’s say those three guys (Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi) plus Vidit (Gujrathi), you have the four core players who could dominate tournaments like the Olympiad.

The USA, you know, they have imported GM (Grandmasters). You have (Fabiano) Caruana, (Hikaru) Nakamura, (Levon) Aronian, and Wesley (So). So, it’s also a force to be reckoned with. And China, if Ding Liren is back on his feet. China need a leader in chess like Ding Liren.

Uzbekistan is a rising power. Also, I will not say they are dominating yet, but this Indian team, with an excellent group of core players, is a harmonious group. If you have three guys in the top 10 in the world and they’re still not even 20 years old, the rest of the world has to fear the worst.

How has your coaching experience been at Triveni Continental Kings and what do you think of your team’s chances of like defending the Global Chess League title?

van Wely: We had our ups and downs. My job is actually to put them back on their feet when they are down because we had some really bad losses. I wish that as a coach I could exercise more influence on the result of the game.

But, it’s not in my hands. And sometimes I feel just really hopeless sitting on the sidelines, but the atmosphere is good. I’m pushing them. About our chances, you know, we are still in the run, we are currently in second place.

But, if I look back at last year, how close it was! I mean, we could have finished sixth and we finally won it. We have the top three guaranteed now but I’m hoping for a first-place finish. First, of course, you need to reach the final. I don’t dare to say anything about our chances.