D Gukesh has indicated in no uncertain terms that he considers the pressure of the World Championship chess match as a privilege. And yes, if you win the crown, the privilege that you enjoy is tremendous. Like a huge majority of past champions, Gukesh is assured to play another World title match in 2026 — the reigning champion gets a direct seeding to that coveted company of two players battling it out.
He dethroned Ding Liren in Singapore on Thursday. The champions from most other sports have to start from scratch to defend their crown as challenge rounds are abolished.
Furthermore, many individual sports — like boxing, shooting, wrestling, swimming, archery, table tennis, badminton, weightlifting, among others — have different champions in different sections. Not ONE world champion.
Truly professional sports like tennis and golf don’t have world championships. Plus some of these sports don’t allow two entries from one country in major competitions. But the world championship match between compatriots is possible in the 64-square game. China’s Ju Wenjun had defeated contrywoman Lei Tingjie for the women’s world chess title last year.
V Anand became the undisputed 15th World Matchplay chess champion in Oct 2008. The next Fide rating list, released in Jan 2009, had only two Indians in the top 25 — Anand and K Sasikiran. Now there are six Indians in the top-26 including three in top-10.
Gukesh may well play his next title match against a fellow Indian with Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa being among the contenders. And even if any Indian doesn’t become the challenger in 2026, Gukesh (or any other Indian) being a part of the 2028 Championship match is quite high. Now, with six more India players in the world rankings from No. 27 to 100, and this figure is expected to rise, the country is almost assured of serious world title contenders till 2030. This is Gukesh’s gift scratch card to Indian chess. It is up to the custodians of the game (AICF, state and district associations) to make the most of it.
The players have done their bit. They have capitalised on the Covid pandemic that opened online forums for elite players; and timely intervention of V Anand helped in grooming them into world-beaters. Destiny has been ironically cruel to Anand. Imagine not getting a chance to play the real World Championship match for 13 years after losing to Garry Kasparov at World Trade Center in New York in 1995. And that too when he was clearly among the top-two players in the world. But destiny has its way of offsetting things. It has accelerated the path of progress for Anand’s ‘children’. Without the platform and team provided by Anand, this surge was nigh impossible.
Gukesh won his maiden world title in this first Candidates cycle. Anand had to wait for 17 years after playing Alexeri Dreev in Chennai in 1991, and capped it by dethroning Vladmir Kramnik in Bonn in 2008. If Gukesh had lost in tiebreaks, questions would have been asked on the missed chances and whether it was a right decision to play obscure lines and play somewhat uncharacteristic chess for the large part of the match.
