At 18, Gukesh makes premonition to be youngest world champion come true

There’s a now-viral video of Gukesh, then an 11-year-old, with nearly a prophetic ring to it. Requested by IM Sagar Shah about his ambition as a chess participant, he had mentioned with a touch of a smile: “I need to change into the youngest chess champion on the earth.” The very subsequent 12 months, he grew to become the youngest Indian GM at 12 years and has by no means seemed again ever since.

Seven years after that premonition, Gukesh has stored his tryst along with his ambitions. Because the chess world doffed its hat to the boy who could possibly be in line for a number of world titles, Susan Polgar, a former nice, felt Gukesh had all the time proven the potential. “Shortly after he grew to become a grandmaster, I noticed one thing very particular in his sport, strategy to chess, and manner. He has the necessary intangibles not often seen in younger gamers this age,” she wrote on her X deal with.

“That’s why I mentioned all the way in which again then that I imagine he’ll go the furthest among the many present crop of younger and intensely proficient Indian prodigies. Some thought I used to be loopy for saying that. However right here we’re, just a few days earlier than a potential historic second.

‘’Gukesh nonetheless has NOT hit his peak chess potential but. Some small tweaks in just a few key areas and he can dominate for years to come back. He can have an incredible future, irrespective of the outcomes of this match!,” she mentioned after the twelfth sport.

A powerful backer of the Indian youth brigade, Polgar added: Gukesh is “all the time well mannered, conducts himself professionally, and really receptive to soak up new data (an important trait for a younger participant)’’.