Gukesh talks after beating Brunello at the Chess Olympiad, discussing team strategy and why he's playing board 4. He answers fan questions about his upcoming match with Sindarov and advises young players to keep chess fun.
Chapters
Please, कौन से नीले हैं यहाँ?
I can try to go like ninety twelve five, ninety fourteen.
Okay, but you're giving up G five. Okay, you get a lot of play.
But you could go like a five. Please.
It's just perfect.
You have six. I mean, put also four or something.
I'm not sure that G5 is actually handy. You're looking into it. It's quite on P3.
It's really. Yeah.
But making is also pretty big. Oh, actually, 9 and 6. You could go look at.
All right. I think you call it smoke stick.
Wow, ninety-three finish five. Yeah, super four.
Finish eight, please.
Oh my God! Okay, so there was one string.
Ninety-two maybe is the best.
All right.
Like I think you should go FG HG ninety-two because you go ninety-two without FG I can't hit you.
Right. Okay, three to nine. Good luck.
I'm here with world champion Gukesh Damaraju, who just had an excellent game against Italy's Brunello. Gukesh, yesterday's result didn't exactly go your way, but what a comeback today! Tell us about your mentality going into this game.
I mean, I wouldn't really consider yesterday a disappointment, yeah, because It was just a very good game by both sides, I think, and my opponent defended well. So like, sometimes you can't do anything. But today, yeah, I mean, nothing special. I had another black, so I was just— I just wanted to play a good game. And luckily my opponent was a bit too creative with Knight g5, and I think after that I took over.
Tell us about the Team dynamic. Of course, there have been board order shifts, also some results that didn't exactly go your way, like Arjun's loss. How are you dealing with these things as a team?
Um, I mean, happens. Yeah, like so far there have been a couple of games that maybe didn't go our way. Arjun's first game was very unfortunate, but also like, uh, I think worth mentioning that, you know, we had a very hectic travel and then the first day was— there was some organization issues. So like Arjun got a Probably like few hours before he went. Like before, I mean, we all waited for like six hours to get a room. So obviously the first round Arjun he was just tired and he blundered in the end. But but so far we have also I think today we are having a good match and the team spirit is high. So all good.
You think that you're better rested, that things are kind of more settled, that the results will come your way because you're not as tired, not as fatigued?
Yeah, surely. Um, the, the first day was a bit tricky for all of us, but, but after that, I think we are all rested, we are all looking forward to the games, and all good.
And a lot of people want to know about the choice of board order. Of course, Srinath said that it was a unanimous decision. Some players are saying it's kind of not such a great look to have our world champion on board 4. Tell us your thoughts.
I mean, I, I mean, it's pretty clear that Prag and Arjun have been in really good shape. Also, the rating says, says the same. And yeah, it was, it was my idea and also like the whole team, like, you know, we all thought the same that this is the order that gives us the best chance of winning the tournament. And, and about the look of not Like the world champion playing on board four, I think. I mean, if if it if the team needs it, I would even rest all the games. So I'm I think this is you know I'm we are here playing for India and there's no no player bigger than the than the country. So I'm just happy to do whatever it takes to for the team to do well.
And final question, Kukesh. Of course, we had the Olympiad for people with disabilities in your same hotel, and one of the players, Jesus from Panama, mentioned. taking a photo with you, and he compared you to Michael Jackson with the amount of people wanting to take photos with you and how famous you are. How do you feel about that?
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but, but I'm happy that— also, one thing I like about Olympiad is that, you know, there are so many players and they all get a chance to interact with, you know, their favorite, favorite players and And you can see, like, you know, the energy is quite high. Like, around 200 countries playing, right? Which is, which is a crazy number.
Almost 400 teams.
Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's— I'm really happy that people are enjoying this tournament.
Actually, one last question. I had an interview with girls from St. Kitts and Nevis. They're 9 years old, playing their first Olympiad. They learned chess when they were 8 years old, so one year ago.
What advice would you give To these young players, I think the most important thing is to just never lose the joy of playing chess. I mean, if you enjoy it, you'll improve. Like yeah, I think that's the best advice.
Well, thank you, Gakesh. You do have a lot of fans waiting for you as we spoke about that. So good luck for the rest of the Olympia. We'll catch up soon.
Thank you.
What? Are you playing?
You.
Just one question.
What is your opinion about upcoming match with Sindaro? Please, please, please, please.
Thank you.
Please one photo. Okay. Please one photo.
Esto, esto.
O esto.
All the mall. Wanneer, wanneer jij zit verder al?
Ja, wat je.
Kettera, hè? Kettera. Zullen we? Nee, dat is al. Thanks.
