'I am still the kid who loves chess. It used to be the coolest toy.'
The "multi-millionaire" tag does "mean a lot" to D Gukesh, but the new world champion doesn't play the game for material gains.
Gukesh reveals that he plays chess for that unbridled joy, which he has retained since the time a chess board used to be his "coolest toy".
Gukesh, the 18-year-old from Chennai, is now richer by Rs 11.45 crore which he will receive from FIDE as prize money for beating Ding Liren of China in the final.
Gukesh's father Rajnikanth gave up his career as an ENT surgeon to accompany his son on the circuit while mother Padmakumari, who is a microbiologist, became the sole earner of the family.
Asked what exactly does being a multi-millionaire mean to him, Gukesh said, "It means a lot. When I got into chess, we (as a family) had to make some hard decisions. My parents had gone through financial and emotional hardships. Now, we are more comfortable and parents don't need to think about those things," Gukesh told FIDE in an interview.
"Personally, money isn't the reason I play chess," he said.
He always tries to remember why he started playing the game when he got his first chess board.
"I am still the kid who loves chess. It used to be the coolest toy," the reticent world champion explained.
Gukesh's dad doubles up as his manager by taking care of all the off-board activities and allowing him to concentrate on the game, while his mother is the emotional and spiritual pillar of strength. His parents mean the world to him.
"She (mother) still says, 'I will be happy to know that you are a great chess player but I would be happier to hear that you are a greater person'," Gukesh said.
Still in his teens, Gukesh feels that as a student of the game, the more he learns about chess, the more aware he will become of how little he knows.
"Even the greatest of players make a lot of mistakes. Even though technology is so advanced, there is still a lot to learn about chess. I strongly believe that the more you learn something, more you realise that you don't know that thing.
"Whenever I am on the chess board, I feel I learn something new. It's a process of unlimited beauty."
The process of the journey is very important but for Gukesh, it is even more important to be clear about the destination.
"For example, I played a beautiful game and lost, I will feel sad. And if I win despite not playing a great game, I will be happy. I tend to look at the result," he said.
The quality of games in the final was found to be pretty drab by experts but Gukesh doesn't believe that his desire to win is trumped by fear of losing.
"My desire to win is stronger than the fear of losing," he said, while expressing a bit of surprise as to how Liren easily agreed to a draw in the second game.
"I had a bit more freedom to attack as he was defending tenaciously. When he went too easy on me in the second game after I played a horrible first game, I felt like he could have pushed me a bit but it was a comfortable draw."
However, he isn't too surprised that Liren opted for the "safer routes".
"It was not a huge surprise. He was tending towards safer routes, maybe he should have taken more chances."
For someone who believes he has two left feet when it comes to dancing, his impromptu jig after receiving the Chess Olympiad Trophy went viral, and now he fears his friends won't leave him so easily.
"Earlier, my friends would dance and I would sit in a corner. After the Olympiad win, the spirits were high and it was (the dance) in the moment. But the video went viral and now my friends said that 'you had danced there and now you will have to join us'," he smiled.
He thanked the chef in Singapore for providing him with his comfort food, "south Indian delicacies" during the final.
"I haven't had ice cream for one year. Maybe I will have one."
