How an extra-curricular activity sparked D Gukesh's passion for chess

It all started as an extracurricular activity in school which later became a lifelong passion for D Gukesh and led to him becoming one of the best chess exponents in the worldGrandmaster Gukesh on Sunday made history by leading India to its firstever chess Olympiad gold in the Open category in BudapestGukeshs childhood coach V Bhaskar who spotted his talent at the Velammal Vidyalaya when he was just seven years old said he saw in him the hunger to excel at a very tender ageWe started when he Gukesh was in class 1 at Velammal Vidyalaya He used to come for extracurricular activities I saw a spark in him at the age of seven and asked him to come for personal training and we worked for many years said Bhaskar about the thirdyoungest GM in history of the game who will compete against Ding Liren of China for the world title later this yearBhaskar added that Gukesh was indeed a child prodigy who liked to experiment with his game from early daysHe started doing too much and I was very happy that he became the third youngest Grandmaster in the world I felt so happy when he won the Candidates in Toronto and earned the right to challenge world champion Ding later this year in SingaporeBhaskar is also happy that Gukeshs contribution played a key role in India winning the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad The 18yearold won nine of the 10 Chess Olympiad matches he played with one ending in a drawIt is the first time the Indian mens and womens teams have won and his Gukeshs wins against the opponents assured the gold in the Open category I am extremely happy for the whole team particularly for Gukesh and my best wishes for him to see him as the youngest world championAlso Read Say ChessThere was double joy for Ramesh Babu the father of R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali as both his children won gold in the most prestigious biennial team chess event in the worldWhile GM Praggnanandhaa was an integral part of the mens team his elder sister Vaishali also played a key role in the womens title triumphWe are very proud of Praggnanandhaa My daughter Vaishalis team also won the gold medal so were happy about that as well said Ramesh BabuAll the team players have done very well and won gold medalsHe added that the success of Indian chess players had given a huge boost to the game in the countryNowadays chess has become very popular after cricket More and more people are getting interested Apart from academics playing chess is becoming a part of their career Youngsters are taking it up as a careerHe added that both Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali were aiming for more success in their careerEvery chess player wants to become a world champion and they Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa have to improve their rating So that is their aim right nowWith agency inputs