Magnus Carlsen reveals discovering D Gukesh for the first time: 'You could sense that he had something'

Chess world number one Magnus Carlsen has been somewhat critical of Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju as well as the Classical format over the last couple of months after the latter became the 18th as well as the youngest world champion in the sport’s history in Singapore last month. However, in a clip that has been garnering the chess community’s attention on social media, the Norwegian GM revealed he marked Gukesh out as one destined for greatness when he first discovered the teen prodigy.

In a video posted by the Take Take Take chess application on social networking platform X, Carlsen revealed he had first discovered Gukesh when he had become one of the youngest GMs of all time at the age of 12.

“I noticed Gukesh around the time he became a grandmaster. He was 12 then, one of the youngest grandmasters of all time.

“You could sense that he had something. He was playing an extremely ambitious kind of chess, which was not quite the same as others. At that time, he did not have the strength to actually sustain that, so he actually lost a lot of games. But I think I drew my game against him, and he was actually better in that game,” the five-time world champion said.

Carlsen added that it was Gukesh’s “proper ambitious chess” that caught his eye, leading him to believe that the young kid from Chennai was the next chess star in the making.

“I was thinking, this is a guy who is really trying to play proper ambitious chess. It felt like he definitely had something,” Carlsen added.

Gukesh was among the first batch of trainees at the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy founded by the legendary Viswanathan Anand in December 2020. Less than three years later, he would end mentor Anand’s 37-year reign as the top-ranked Indian chess player.

The year 2024 was even more historic for Gukesh – besides defeating Chinese GM Ding Liren to be crowned the new FIDE world champion in Singapore, Gukesh had become the youngest champion in the history of the Candidates Tournament and had also starred in India’s golden sweep of the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.

Also Read | D Gukesh: ‘I might’ve drifted a bit here and there after World Chess Championship win

Gukesh is currently competing at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, where he is currently at the top of the ‘Masters’ standings . He will next be seen in action at the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour that will be taking place in Weissenhaus, Germany starting 7 February, with Carlsen also among the players in action.