'I saw the spark in Gukesh at 7'

From extracurricular activity to chess World Champion: Gukesh's inspiring journey

It all started as an extra-curricular activity in school, which later became a life-long passion for D Gukesh and led to him becoming one of the best chess exponents in the world.

Grandmaster Gukesh, on Sunday, made history by leading India to its first-ever chess Olympiad gold in the 'Open' category in Budapest.

Gukesh's childhood coach, V Bhaskar, who spotted his talent at the Velammal Vidyalaya when he was just seven years old, said he saw in him the hunger to excel at a very tender age.

"We started when he (Gukesh) was in class 1 at Velammal Vidyalaya. He used to come for extracurricular activities. I saw a spark in him at the age of seven and asked him to come for personal training, and we worked for many years," said Bhaskar about the third-youngest GM in history of the game, who will compete against Ding Liren of China for the world title later this year.

Bhaskar added that Gukesh was indeed a child prodigy who liked to experiment with his game from early days.

"He started doing too much, and I was very happy that he became the third youngest Grandmaster in the world. I felt so happy when he won the Candidates in Toronto and earned the right to challenge world champion Ding later this year in Singapore."

Bhaskar is also happy that Gukesh's contribution played a key role in India winning the gold medal at the Olympiad. The 18-year-old won nine of the 10 matches he played with one ending in a draw.

"It is the first time the Indian (men's and women's) teams have won, and his (Gukesh's) wins against the opponents assured the gold in the 'Open' category. I am extremely happy for the whole team, particularly for Gukesh, and my best wishes for him to see him as the youngest world champion."