New world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju. File | Photo credit: PTI

The label “multimillionaire” means “a lot” to the new world champion D. Gukesh, but he does not play the game for material reasons, but because of the unbridled joy that he has always been able to maintain on the chessboard, which is the “coolest toy” for him .

Gukesh, the 18-year-old from Chennai, is now richer by ₹11.45 crore, which he received from FIDE as prize money for defeating Ding Liren of China in the final.

Gukesh’s father Rajnikanth gave up his career as an ENT surgeon to accompany his son on the circuit, while mother Padmakumari, a microbiologist, became the sole breadwinner of the family.

Also read: Highlights of World Chess Championship Match 14 Gukesh vs Ding

When asked what exactly being a multi-millionaire means to him, Gukesh said: “It means a lot to me. When I got into chess, we (as a family) had to make some difficult decisions. My parents had been going through financial and emotional difficulties.” “Now we feel more comfortable and parents don’t have to think about these things anymore,” Gukesh said in an interview with FIDE.

“Personally, money is not the reason I play chess,” he said. He always tries to remember why he started playing the game when he got his first chessboard. “I’m still the kid who loves chess. “It used to be the coolest toy,” explained the reserved world champion.

His parents mean the world to him. Gukesh’s father doubles as his manager, taking care of all off-board activities and allowing him to focus on the game, while his mother is the emotional and spiritual pillar of strength.

“She (mother) still says: I would be happy to know that you are a great chess player, but I would be happier to hear that you are a greater person,” Gukesh said.

Still a teenager, Gukesh feels that as a student of the game, the more he learns about chess, the more he realizes how little he knows.

“Even the greatest players make a lot of mistakes. Even though technology has advanced so much, there is still a lot to learn about chess. I’m a firm believer that the more you learn something, the more you realize you don’t know.” Thing.

“Whenever I sit on the chessboard, I feel like I’m learning something new. It is a process of infinite beauty,” he said.

Journey and destination are both “important”

The itinerary is very important, but for Gukesh it is even more important to be clear about the destination.

“For example, if I had played a nice game and lost, I would be sad. And if I win, even though I didn’t play a great game, I’m happy. I tend to look at the result,” he said.

The desire to win is more than the fear of losing

Pundits found the quality of play in the final quite poor, but Gukesh doesn’t believe his will to win will be trumped by fear of defeat.

“My desire to win is stronger than the fear of losing,” he said, while also expressing some surprise at how Liren easily agreed to a draw in the second game.

“I had a little more freedom to attack because he defended stubbornly. “When he went easy on me in the second game after I played a terrible first game, I felt like he could have pushed me a little bit, but it was a comfortable draw,” he said. However, he isn’t too surprised that Liren chose the “safer routes.”

“It wasn’t a big surprise. He tended towards safer routes, maybe he should have taken more risks.”

Dance and ice cream

For someone who thinks he has two left feet when it comes to dancing, his impromptu dance routine after receiving the Chess Olympiad trophy went viral, and now he fears his friends won’t leave him so easily.

“My friends used to dance and I sat in a corner. After the Olympic victory, spirits were high and it (the dance) was in the moment. But the video went viral and now my friends were like, ‘You danced.’ “Here and now you must join us,” he smiled.

He thanked the chef in Singapore for providing him with his home cooking, “South Indian delicacies”, during the finale.

“I haven’t eaten ice cream for a year. Maybe I’ll get one.”