India’s youngest Grandmaster D. Gukesh could have hardly wished for a better week. Infact, the 12-year-old youngster must be on top of the world. After all, it is not every day that your country’s Prime Minister praises you.
-- Advertisement --That’s right. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, hailed D. Gukesh for his extraordinary achievement, even calling him as the “champion of chess”.
The Indian PM took to his Twitter handle to congratulate the youngster. Here is what Narendra Modi said on D Gukesh’s exceptional achievements:
-- Advertisement --The champion of chess!
Young D Gukesh has made the country proud by his accomplishment. His diligence and perseverance are noteworthy!
Congratulations to him and best wishes for his future endeavours. https://t.co/Ot7uf8zGzu
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 18, 2019
Quite naturally, Gukesh’s father, Dr Rajinikanth, was elated at reading the Prime Minister’s tweet. “We’re very happy that the PM of our country has appreciated our son. This’ll definitely be a big boost for him to perform well in the upcoming games,” said a jubilant Rajinikanth.
Gukesh had to come a long way to earn the praise. With all white, his deciding match was against the experienced International master Dinesh K Sharma.
Also Read | Chess Legend Vishwanathan Anand says, “India has Amazing Depth in 8-20 Age Group”
Nonetheless, the youngster prevailed, bagging the title at the Delhi International chess Grandmaster Open that was held on January 15.
The talented chess prodigy started playing the game when he was just seven. What started off as a co-curricular enterprise soon transformed into a passion.
Although Gukesh becomes the youngest grandmaster from India by that win, he missed on the world record by a mere 17 days. Russia’s Sergey Karjakin holds the world record of being the youngest Grandmaster that he back set in 2002.
Even though he is basking in the newly found limelight, Gukesh has set big targets for himself with the bigger league of world championship waiting for him.
Gukesh wants the title to sit lightly on his shoulder as focuses on improving his game as well as the ratings to compete in some of the most elite events against the top-ranked players.
In fact, he expressed his desires for defeating the five-time World Champion GM Vishwanathan Anand to become the World’s Youngest Chess Champion. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the 12-year-old is throwing an open challenge to World No.8, according to him.
