Hoping for many more good days: Gukesh

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh said he is focussed on taking it one game at a time and is hoping for “many more good days” as he aims to upstage Ding Liren and become the youngest world champion in chess.

Playing with black pieces, the 18-year-old Gukesh bounced back to draw the second game against defending champion Liren of China in the World Chess Championship. This was a day after Liren (black) exploited Gukesh’s blunder in a French Defense match to clinch the first game.

“Today was a good day, and hopefully, we will have many more good days coming,” Gukesh said.

Gukesh has thanked his second, Grzegorz Gajewski, for the manner in which he has been helping the Indian in his endeavour.

“Gajewski is not only helping me with chess, but also helping me get ready mentally. He said a few things which helped me recover quickly,” Gukesh said of the Polish GM who was beaten by the Indian when they met at the World Rapid Championships in 2019.

Gukesh said he is privileged to be able to represent his country in the World Championship.

“There is obviously some pressure for anyone playing in a World Championship; there is a lot of pressure. But I also see it as a privilege that I can represent so many people and my country. And yeah, it would be a very nice achievement, obviously, if I win the match. I am just focusing on one game at a time. Hopefully, things go my way,” he said.

It was a good recovery by Gukesh as Liren could do very little with his white pieces and had to share the point. “Draw with black in the World Championship is always nice and it’s too early, we still have a long match,” the Chennai-based GM said.

“I think after I was surprised in the opening, I reacted pretty decently, and I didn’t give him any chances. It was a solid game with black, which is nice. I have seen a lot of World Championship matches with players playing inside a cube, luckily, I am playing and not watching it. I think I will try to play a good game, because after all the only thing you can do to win is to play a good game,” he added.