Humpy, Harika praise Gukesh after his World Chess Championship title

Former World rapid chess champion Koneru Humpy said what separated D. Gukesh, the newly-crowned World Chess Champion, from his Chinese opponent Ding Liren in the World championship final which the Indian won, was the confidence level.

“Honestly, I expected Gukesh to win more convincingly. But, again I am mighty impressed with his confidence levels. He believed in himself and that was the big difference eventually.

“Even from seemingly bad positions, he could fight back remarkably while Ding struggled to do so,” Humpy informed Sportstar.

“The way Gukesh came back strongly after losing the first game was a reminder of his amazing skills and the ability to hit back,” the former World junior champion said from Vijayawada.

“I think today’s game was all about nervous breakdown. It was a basic endgame which anyone could have drawn but somehow Ding struggled and blundered,” Humpy said.

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“Obviously, Gukesh setting the record to be the youngest world champion is truly sensational and something really special, not just for him but for the entire chess fraternity of India,” she said.

“We never had any doubts about Gukesh scaling the summit one day given his profound talent. He is really hard working and very ambitious,” Humpy said.

“India winning the ‘golden double’ in the Olympiad and now Gukesh becoming World Champion should be cherished for a long, long time to come by all of us,” she said.

For her part, GM Dronavalli Harika, also a member of the gold-medal winning Olympiad women’s team, said to see the final moments of Gukesh clinching the issue were really beautiful and should be etched in memory forever.

“I believe this magnificent triumph by Gukesh changes the face of Indian chess itself even more. This will have a much bigger and better impact on the sport in India,” Harika said.

“I believed in Gukesh winning the last classical time control game given his reputation and mastery on the 64 squares. Once he reached the World championship finals itself, I was just hoping it was only a question of time before he won the title. He is such a nice, young boy,” she said.

“I know Gukesh’s father and the kind of efforts and hard work, sacrifices they made to see him reach this level. Really feel happy for them,” Harika said.