Started setting new goals for 2025 after World Championship and Khel Ratna: Gukesh

PTI, Jan 5, 2025, 6:53 PM IST

D Gukesh (PTI / File)

Bengaluru: D Gukesh climbed dizzying heights in the past one month, a World Championship triumph getting garnished by the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award recently, but the chess prodigy now wants to reset his focus and goals to tackle a “challenging” 2025.

Gukesh will be seen in action in the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee in Netherlands, beginning on January 17.

The event will see participation from frontline players such as Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa among others.

“Yeah, 2025 will offer a very tough challenge. A lot of new and interesting tournaments are coming up. The world championship was in the past. I’m very happy about it and all the awards and receptions,” Gukesh told a select media gathering during the felicitation ceremony organised by WestBridge Capital here on Sunday.

“But now, I have started thinking about new goals, new tournaments and new ways to prepare. The goal, the approach will be the same, to give my best, to keep improving myself, and win as many tournaments as possible.

“So, I am looking forward to a fun year with a lot of learning, a lot of improvements and hopefully a lot of good results,” he added.

However, Gukesh will have to carry with him the tag of world champion and along with it loads of expectations and increased scrutiny. But the 19-year-old is prepared to stand in the limelight.

“Yeah, I have been used to being under the attention for a while. Obviously, after the world championship, it will be more. But the basic things I remember are to keep improving myself and accepting failures when they come.

“I think in general, I have high expectations of myself. So, I think my aim is to meet my own expectations rather than that of others,” he said.

But has he been able to handle all the adulation that has deservingly come his way “I had thought that it (winning the World Championship) would be somewhat similar to the Candidates, but obviously it’s much more. I’m grateful for all the attention and recognition.

“I guess one thing is to manage these things with the training. But after the (World Championship) match, I also need some recovery period. I’ve started training a bit. But it will be more serious soon,” he explained.

Five-time world champion and Gukesh’s mentor Viswanathan Anand said his ward’s victory has brought the attention firmly back to chess.

“I think it brings back the spotlight to chess. If you project this forward, it’s possible that in every single tournament there is some Indian playing that you can look forward to watching.

“So I hope a lot of the dots are connected. The audience numbers in India are very good. Now, we have regular broadcasts and everything. So, I think it will be a sport in the main line.

“Of course, Gukesh will spearhead that, especially as being the world champion. But now people are interested to see if there will be Indians playing in a tournament. So there’s a lot of excitement at all stages.

“And the second effect, which is maybe even more profound, is that young players will be inspired to take up the game,” Anand said.