World champion Gukesh Dommaraju and chess legend Viswanathan Anand discuss after their match in the Global Chess League. (Photo: GCL)
World champion Gukesh finally ended his Global Chess League campaign with victory over his mentor and idol Viswanathan Anand as the Alaskan Knights claimed the third spot in the tiebreaks of the third season of GCL 3 at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai.
In the group stages, when the Knights had met Anand’s Ganges Grandmasters, Gukesh had lost the first game last week then was held to a draw. In Tuesday’s third place match clashes, Gukesh lost again in a rapid game before a draw in the blitz tiebreak. But in the final blitz game of the tournament for Gukesh and Anand, the teenager from Chennai prevailed.
When asked by Sagar Shah on the official GCL broadcast what the experience of playing against his idol was, Gukesh said, “It’s kind of tricky to play against him, is what I realized. For me, it’s like you’re playing against God. I’ve always seen him in that sense. So when playing against him, I have to bring up this killer instinct, which is kind of tough to bring against him. I just have too much respect for him, I think.”
Gukesh then praised the level of play of the five-time world champion who is now semi-retired but has shaped the careers of many of India’s current stars like Gukesh himself.
World champion Gukesh Dommaraju and chess legend Viswanathan Anand sign autographs together after their match in the Global Chess League. (Photo: GCL)
“He was also playing quite sharp. Obviously, I had at least three winning positions, and then he was just playing very fast. I kind of hesitated here and there, and then in blitz, you know how it goes—it just goes like that. But okay, luckily, at least in the final game, I didn’t lose,” Gukesh said.
Gukesh’s teammate Arjun Erigaisi, on the other hand, dominated Vicent Keymer on the second board in both the rapid games and even in the first blitz tiebreak and ensured that the match stayed in balance.