Gukesh’s Candidates triumph: How a son proved his mother’s faith in him right

D. Padma Kumari found herself rushing to the Chennai International Airport in the wee hours of Thursday. Her son, chess grandmaster D. Gukesh, was back after a triumphant campaign in the FIDE Candidates, after spending close to a month away from home. His flight landed close to 30 minutes before the scheduled arrival time, leaving his family racing against time to see him emerge from the arrival tunnel. 

What she did not factor in was the crowd that was going to compete with her for time near Gukesh. Scores of camerapersons from local media, 100-odd students from Velammal Vidyalaya (Gukesh’s alma mater) and a few chess aficionados sprinkled here and there. 

“I was so happy to see Gukesh. I was searching for him in the crowd. He spotted me and broke through the gathering and came to see us. It was an emotional moment for us,” Padma told  Sportstar.

Gukesh’s victory, which saw him become the youngest winner in the tournament’s history, saw life coming full circle for this family. 

A few months ago, a few unsavoury results put his qualification chances in jeopardy. It was a setback that thrust Gukesh into a bit of a pit. 

When he secured qualification by virtue of winning the Chennai Grand Masters, the nerves settled for Padma. So, when someone like Norwegian former World Champion Magnus Carlsen (while appreciative of Gukesh’s talent) did not show much confidence in the 17-year-old doing well in Toronto, Padma remained unfazed. 

“Yeah we saw what Magnus said. To be honest, I never cared because we saw that a few weeks before the Candidates tournament. But our confidence was solidified the day he qualified. So this did not matter.”

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On April 22, when a draw between Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi’s drawn game secured Gukesh’s victory, Padma was not in the know. She prefers not to watch the matches live and waits for action to end to check out the score. 

“Usually, I don’t follow the games live. I wake up in the morning and see the results. That day, I thought if something good happens, my husband would call and tell me. I thought since the call hadn’t come, maybe Gukesh had drawn and the tournament had progressed to tiebreaks. By 6am, my husband called. I immediately knew something good had happened. We spent a few emotional moments on the call taking it all in.”

A microbiologist working in a hospital in the city, the suggestion that a cause for celebration could derail her workday sounds absurd to Padma. 

“His win was going on in my mind but I can’t deviate from the tasks of the day. After I came back home for the day, I watched all his interviews and all the videos from there and I was really happy.”

Padma revealed Gukesh calls her twice a day usually when he’s competing, once before the game and once after. Losses would drive Gukesh to ask his mother to spend some more time speaking to him and Padma is armed with inspirational stories of athletes and personalities from across the spectrum to help lift her son’s spirits. Usain Bolt, Padma said, is one such source of motivation for her son. 

These tales came in handy in two particularly delicate moments over the past few months. Once during the lull before Gukesh qualified for Candidates, where poor results had dented his confidence, and the other after his loss to Alireza Firouzja in the seventh round in Toronto. What also helps, she said, is an evolving level of maturity. 

“When he was younger, if he lost a match, his performance would drop. He would be going through the motions of a tournament and a single loss would derail him. Now, there’s an element of maturity that’s come into his method. He has a process. He does a lot of meditation, yoga – all that is also helping him. We see the change in him as parents. He has learnt to recover from a loss quickly and he is coming back stronger too. 

“When he was a beginner in chess, he would finish with a mono syllable – yes or no, one word answers. He’s not really an introvert, but he’s not used to socialising so much. Now, he is evolving in every manner. He’s also started giving his interviews in a calm, mature and often eloquent way. That’s something we are incredibly happy about.”

Padma sent Gukesh to Toronto with an incredible amount of confidence in her son returning with that world championship berth, a positivity even her husband found it hard to buy into sometimes. 

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“Something told me and Gukesh also firmly believed that (he would win). When he was struggling to make it to the Candidates, something told me that he would make it and do something big. He puts in an enormous amount of hardwork. There was a phase when he was so low when he had poor results and his Candidates qualification was still uncertain. At that point, he was determined to just make it to the Candidates. He knew if he’d come here, he’d work hard and make something of it. There was confidence in his eyes. I know my son by every inch and I saw that spark in him which made me confident about him winning.”

Gukesh’s routine has moved from a chess-obsessed schedule to one that aims to find the right balance between work and play. He takes tennis classes, throws in some yoga and meditation to keep calm, watches some Netflix and makes time for his friends. He has also learnt to be disciplined about rest and sleep, something that’s made a big difference ahead of his Candidates campaign. 

Gukesh is a ‘clean slate’ kind of guy. He isn’t someone who needs a care package from home when he travels. He has opened himself up to the culture and ways of the places he travels to for competitions but relishes the chance to return home to his family. 

While interviews, sponsor commitments and other appearances are set to eat into the time he gets at home, Padma is planning a get-together for family and friends in the 10 days she has with her son at home before he flies out to Poland.

Competing in Warsaw in the first pitstop of the Grand Chess Tour will kick start Gukesh’s preparation for that all-important clash against Ding Liren. There’s much talk about the fixture being hosted by India, with Chennai emerging as a potential venue. 

These conversations are a few steps too far for Gukesh and his family. For now, the unit will soak in their son’s success, dive into the stories of his Canadian sojourn and the adulation that’s coming with it before it’s time to get back to life on tour once more.