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Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Chess world champion Gukesh Dommaraju explains how meditation transformed him into a world champion at the age of 18
Image credits: X In 2024, Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest world champion of chess. Now the 19-year-old from Chennai has opened up on how meditation turned him from an "impulsive and short-tempered kid" to a calm, record-making world champion. Gukesh is appreciated and admired for his poise and ability to stay focused and unmoved even in most high-profile matches, never showing a crack in his façade. He credited this transformation to when he realised his inability to manage his emotions, which was bleeding into his chess results. Recently, he was in Poland's Katowice to play an exhibition blitz event against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The chess player lost 5-1 to Duda, who was a part of his team last year when he became the youngest world champion in chess history. Answering some questions at the event, he revealed how meditation and yoga helped him manage his emotions. 'I was always like a very impulsive, very short-tempered kid. I used to throw tantrums and like not manage my emotions. Then I realized that it's affecting my chess because whenever I would lose a game, the next few games too I would be very affected by it and I would not be able to play well. So I just realized that I should manage my emotions better. That's when I started doing some good practices like meditation and yoga, which really helped me to manage my emotions. It not only helps in chess but like all walks of life,' he said. When asked about his favourite asana, he shared that he just did some basic yoga positions. 'I can't say like I'm like that advanced in yoga or something like that. But like I just do very simple and basic movement while focusing on breathing. Most of it is related to meditation. I don't really know much about yoga. I just know some basics, and I do that at work.' When asked by the host to show the crows some yoga techniques, he said, 'I'm not really a yoga master.' What lies ahead for Gukesh? Image credits: X The chess champion will be heading to the USA from Poland to play in the St Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour events. He also added that he has plenty of dreams he wishes to conquer after achieving the goal of becoming the 18th world champion in chess history by defeating Ding Liren in Singapore in 2024. Now, he shared that he wishes to become the best player in the world. 'My childhood dream was to become the world champion. But at some point it became just be the best player. The youngest and all these things didn't really matter too much to me. It was about being the best and keep improving throughout my life to achieve that. To be the one player in the whole world who is like the best player, who you could clearly say that this is the best player in the world. That has become my dream. It's still a long way to go. '
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
How Gukesh was celebrated in Poland: Face on coffee foam, cheering fans holding his name, helicopter ride and adoring kids playing chess
Before he flew off to USA to compete in the St Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju made a short pitstop in Poland, a country that became like a second home to him while he was preparing for last year's world chess championship battle against Ding Liren. Gukesh was a special guest in the country, where he played in six blitz games against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who helped him become a world champion. And while Gukesh lost the six-game contest 5-1, the trip to Poland was made special by the local organisers' gestures. For one, he rode in a helicopter to the Polish town of Ustroń, where the Ustroń Chess Festival was held. There, he was greeted by hundreds of young fans, holding a banner reading 'Welcome Gukesh'. There were more surprises in store: at the coffee shop at one of the venues, the barista served him coffee where the foam on top was shaped in his likeness. 'I am very glad to be here to see all of you. I have been in Ustroń since yesterday, and I see the kind of chess enthusiasm that there is, and I am very glad to be part of this festival and hope you all had a great time over here and played some very interesting chess. Just keep loving chess, thank you for having me,' said Gukesh, addressing a hall full of kids playing chess. Gukesh has a special connection with Poland, because his team for the world chess championship last year against Ding Liren was filled with more Polish members than Indians. This included his trainer since 2023 Grzegorz Gajewski and other Polish GMs like Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Jan Klimkowski. The team also had India's Pentala Harikrishna and Germany's Vincent Keymer. 'At one point I was spending more time in Warsaw than my home in Chennai,' Gukesh said at one point during his visit to Poland's Katowice, where he had gone to play in an exhibition blitz event against Duda. Gukesh lost 5-1 to Duda. During the trip, Gukesh was handed a 5-1 defeat — which included the teenager losing five games in a row — in an exhibition blitz event in Poland's Katowice by Duda, the man who helped the Indian teenager become the youngest world champion in chess history as a second (an aide) last year. The best-of-six games event saw Gukesh take a 1-0 lead in the start, but then lose five in a row. Gukesh rarely competes in blitz tournaments. He prefers the calmer waters of classical chess, than the turbulence of blitz — at Katowice both players had three minutes on their clocks and got two-second increments per move.
