 "A screengrab from D Gukesh's video of him completing bungee jumping.")
D Gukesh kept his promise and went bungee jumping at Skypark Sentosa in Singapore after winning the 2024 World Chess Championship. The 18-year-old Indian chess sensation became the youngest world champion in the sport after defeating China’s Ding Liren last week at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. Following his historic victory, Gukesh, who admitted to being “scared of heights,” revealed that he had promised his trainer, Grzegorz Gajewski, that he would go bungee jumping if he won the championship.
“I will reveal one secret,” Gukesh said after becoming the World Chess Champion on Thursday. “Gajew (trainer Grzegorz Gajewski) will be very happy to hear this. On the rest day after Game 9, we went for a walk on the beach. I am personally quite scared of heights. We both looked at people who were trying bungee jumping and he said if I win, he is going to do bungee jumping. And then, I don’t know why said this but I told him that I will also join him. Probably, Paddy (Upton) can also join us. I’m looking forward to jumping off a bridge.”
Gukesh goes bungee jumping in Singapore
The Chennai boy has now shared a video of him completing the bungee jump at the Skypark Sentosa in Singapore to celebrate his victory. In the video, Gukesh could be heard shouting “I am the world champion” after completing the jump. He captioned the video, “I did it!” on X.
Gukesh on Monday returned to India, receiving a grand welcome upon his arrival at the Chennai International Airport.
“Thank you for all the support. It means a lot to bring back [the] trophy to India,” said Gukesh to reporters outside the Chennai airport. “Thank you for this reception. I hope we will have a great time in the next few days celebrating together.”
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The World Championship win also made Gukesh richer by around Rs 12 crore, but the youngster said that money is not the motivation behind his pursuit of chess .
“It means a lot. When I got into chess, we (as a family) had to make some hard decisions. My parents had gone through financial and emotional hardships. Now, we are more comfortable and parents don’t need to think about those things,” Gukesh told FIDE in an interview.
“Personally, money isn’t the reason I play chess. I am still the kid who loves chess. It used to be the coolest toy,” he added.