 "D Gukesh opens up on dealing with negative comments since becoming chess world champion: ‘I will continue to do my job'")
Life hasn’t been the same for Gukesh Dommaraju since he defeated Ding Liren to become the youngest chess world champion of all time, as well as only the second world champion from India after the legendary Viswanathan Anand. The 18-year-old Grandmaster had widely been viewed the next big thing in Indian chess for a long time, and began to live up to those expectations after surpassing Anand to become the top-ranked Indian player in 2023.
With his 7.5-6.5 victory over Chinese GM Ding in the FIDE World Championship in Singapore, Gukesh cemented his status as a superstar of the game. Gukesh, however, also ended up drawing a fair amount of flak from several members of the chess community, with five-time world champion and reigning world No 1 Magnus Carlsen openy questioning the quality of chess that was on offer in the final.
Gukesh reveals his secret to dealing with criticism and negativity
Gukesh, however, has learned to not pay much heed to such criticism and to accept it as part of reaching the pinnacle of the sport. The Chennai lad also added that while he mostly avoids negative comments due to his minimal presence on social media, he takes it as a source of motivation if he inevitably comes across a remark or two.
“In my personal view, when you reach the World Championship game, you are bound to face criticism, and people are free to say whatever they want. I will continue to do my job. Also I’m not on social media, so a lot of negative things don’t reach me easily. But I do come across some negative comments, and they only motivate me,” Gukesh told The Times of India.
Gukesh’s victory in the World Championship was the icing on the cake for Indian chess in what was an incredible 2024. Gukesh had become the youngest winner in the history of the Candidates Tournament earlier that year and had also played a major role in India’s historic gold in the ‘Open’ section of the Chess Olympiad in September.
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