D Gukesh sets sights on new 2025 goals after World Championship, Khel Ratna wins

Chess prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju, fresh off his World Championship victory and the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, is now resetting his focus as he prepares for a “challenging” 2025.

The 19-year-old is eager to dive into new tournaments and refine his skills, starting with the upcoming Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, set to begin on January 17. The event will feature top players, including Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, and R Praggnanandhaa.

Speaking during a felicitation ceremony organised by WestBridge Capital, Gukesh shared his excitement about the year ahead. “2025 will offer a very tough challenge. A lot of new and interesting tournaments are coming up. The World Championship was in the past. I’m very happy about it and all the awards and receptions,” he said.

“But now, I have started thinking about new goals, new tournaments, and new ways to prepare. The goal, and approach will be the same, to give my best, to keep improving myself, and win as many tournaments as possible. So, I am looking forward to a fun year with a lot of learning, a lot of improvements and hopefully a lot of good results.”

Despite the heightened expectations that come with his world champion title, Gukesh remains unfazed by the added scrutiny. He expressed confidence in handling the spotlight, stating, “Yeah, I have been used to being under the attention for a while. Obviously, after the World Championship, it will be more. But the basic things I remember are to keep improving myself and accepting failures when they come. I think, in general, I have high expectations of myself. So, I think my aim is to meet my own expectations rather than that of others.”

Reflecting on the overwhelming attention since his World Championship victory, Gukesh admitted it was more intense than he had anticipated. “I had thought that it (winning the World Championship) would be somewhat similar to the Candidates, but obviously it’s much more. I’m grateful for all the attention and recognition,” he said. “I guess one thing is to manage these things with the training. But after the (World Championship) match, I also need some recovery period. I’ve started training a bit. But it will be more serious soon.”

Viswanathan Anand, Gukesh’s mentor and a five-time world champion, praised his young ward’s victory, noting that it has brought much-needed attention back to chess. “I think it brings back the spotlight to chess. If you project this forward, it’s possible that in every single tournament there is some Indian playing that you can look forward to watching. So, I hope a lot of the dots are connected. The audience numbers in India are very good. Now, we have regular broadcasts and everything. So, I think it will be a sport in the main line,” Anand said.

He further added that Gukesh’s triumph would inspire younger generations to take up the game. “Of course, Gukesh will spearhead that, especially as being the world champion. But now people are interested to see if there will be Indians playing in a tournament. So there’s a lot of excitement at all stages. And the second effect, which is maybe even more profound, is that young players will be inspired to take up the game.”