I Interviewed Gukesh at the Candidates

I'm joined by GES taraju you might know him as GES D or you might know him as gesh thank you so much for joining me yeah uh number 16 in the world 2743 none of that matters though because it's a eight player double round robin how you feeling in your first candidates being here in Toronto what are the emotions like right now feel pretty good I um I you know like tra after the travel I expected some kind of jet lag but I'm feeling perfect all right so yeah feeling good and uh eager to start the tournament is it more uh cuz you seem very relaxed some is it more kind of just relaxed beforehand uh are there some nerves is it like a excitement to just start playing and pour it all out on the board yeah I guess there is still one day before the start so I don't really feel all the nerves yet but I'm sure when the tournament starts I'll feel some uh something but yeah in general I'm just very got to start the what's fascinating about the candidates is some people know that they're playing in the candidates one second after they lose the world championship match right like that's right away once it sinks in uh and then there's a whole another group of people that can qualify in the like the way vided qualified or the way alza qualified like the 28th of December you were just before that but you played in this amazing uh chenai was it the grand Masters is the T the chenai master yeah chenai Grand Masters yeah the chenai grand Masters uh can you take me through your qualification Journey was it a whole year of thinking I'm making it to the candidates or did it only become a reality kind of once you realize you won the tournament in chenai uh no I mean when I started 2023 it was one of the main goals of the Year okay and uh I got off to a very nice start I um I gained a lot of rating and Midway through 2023 I think I was very very likely to make it because I was um on the in the top spots in the in both FID circuit and the had every chance for the rating spot but uh but then I I guess some some kind of nerves got in and I I had this very bad month uh ending with the Grand swis and I lost a lot of rating points and also the uh Anish overtook me in the circuit so um after that it it looked uh uh like very unlikely that I'll make it but you know I had this final chance in the Chennai Grand Masters and uh yeah I was very happy that uh I played a good tournament and you know I clinched it there kukes you're the youngest playing in the candidates I guess it's close between you in prag but you are the you're you're the youngest player and so I wonder and I have been wondering as you rise and it's it's not just a matter of making the right decisions in in chess and the right tournaments and the right preparation it's a whole other thing you have to think about I mean content you have to think about business opportunities um how do you manage to deal with all the people that will give you advice in life right all the people that will tell you should do this in your chest or you should do this in your career um how has that process been to kind of learn and understand uh how to manage all of that I guess I till I mean till now I haven't really been paying attention to any non chest things I okay I have my that's that's fair no I have my team taking care of it and uh sure I get a lot of advice but um like it's um quite filtered and um I just try to put uh full focus on chess and you know there are some other things I need to attend to and uh you know I try to do that and get back to chess as quick quickly as possible so and specifically in chess uh I would say classical right for you is like is it 99% of the Fus 100% of the focus or cuz some players they play everything like they play the world rapid and Blitz they play all these online rapid events they play title Tuesday twice a day every day they live stream it right uh and they win it I mean hikaro won the the the the one today even uh but for you is it 100% onclassical is it 95% uh I would say till a while back it was like 99% but uh okay recently I've started to uh realize the importance of rapid and Blitz and also you know other formats but uh but yeah considering I there was uh I mean there's the candidates I pretty much the full focus on was um only on classical but uh surely in uh after the candidates I would like to um you know I would like to take uh rapid and blood seriously as just I imagine as a business decision right just because there's so many tournaments or because you think it it's just a different skill to learn I'm not sure if it's like a a business thing but I'm just uh recently I've started to enjoy okay enjoy it more as well online not as much but uh but at least the over the board I started to enjoy more and I want to improve and in general I uh I think uh if you want to be the best at CH you have to be good at everything so yes that is I that is something I definitely agree with uh I don't know if I agree with the I I'm not going to say I disagree with your approach but I am sort of fascinated by the fact that like you don't play online at all like you don't play in these like events that much yeah very rarely why I just I'm not I'm not sure trying to get you to do it but I'm sort of fascinated you don't do it almost at all it's just uh is it a matter of revealing your secrets it's just a matter of you just don't like it it's what is it I guess I don't have the same feeling as I play with the board um not saying it's bad or anything I mean I I'm sure a lot of people like it and it's perfectly fine but for me personally it's uh it's just not as enjoyable and not as intense as or the bo chess is that what is for it's the intensity it's the the psychology just sort of the the atmosphere the tense nature of it yeah I I just don't get the same feeling when I'm sitting at home and you know playing without even looking at my opponents yeah it's just not the same for me but okay at some point I need to uh develop the skill also yeah cuz I guess guys like mial it's like almost the opposite yeah it's like complete opposite it's it's just fascinating uh cuz uh yeah he plays in in so many online and um it almost feels like hardly ever over the board uh talk to me about Chess and India what is it uh I have so many questions but let's let's sort of start with there's this mix of the the young the youngsters of India right you guys are kind of like uh there's there's you there's Prague there's Arjun ruk we can say inal as well there's a like the Next Generation Um is it kind of interesting for you that it's when you play the team events and you're sort of coming up together it's like the squad but all these events are individual events ultimately the most important events are individual is it a little bit hard to strike that balance or for you it's just your friends off the board and when you play it's I wouldn't say we are like really close friends off the board but okay we have good relations pretty much everyone and um apart from the time we play CH we you know we sometimes even hang out and we uh we have a very normal relationship but uh but yeah when it comes to chess it's um it's uh fully competitive there is no um there's no friendship on the board so and about the team events I think it uh doesn't make much difference for me um know we obviously don't um we kind of discuss things together but we don't reveal our uh you know any important things or anything so um and okay it's always nice to have some strong players in your team so yeah uh iron sharpin iron or something along those lines right it's it's probably good that all the teammates are uh are quite strong and and um and everybody can even learn and and practice together uh back to this point by the way of you being being the youngest is what is it like to prepare for people who have played in this event let's say four times like Fabiano has played candidates four times so do you just look at the games you've played against them do you look at the games that he has played in the candidates in general what is the approach for preparing for someone who has some level of experience more than you but clearly you are here for reason and you belong and you're also trying to win the same tournament um surely I think experience uh for people like uh Fabby nepo they have huge experience and it surely plays a role but when you come to a tournament it all depends on what happens on the day who is in who is in better shape and uh I mean experience in a way it's a good thing but also like they are the favorites to win and it adds more pressure uh for them and for me it's more like you know I want to be here I I want to play some good chess and I just want to give my best and I'm fully uh eager to it so uh I guess there it's kind of a balance but you know just depends on who is uh in better shape on the day and okay Anything Can Happen yeah and chess yes for sure uh I've asked everyone this question today so I'm very curious to hear your thoughts uh you love chess and you're very good at chess but what is something that you do in your life that you love but you're very bad at I love tennis okay but I I would say I'm quite quite bad at it okay me too so far many people say batminton and Tennis I don't know what it why what is the correlation between chess players and Racket sports like like uh I imagine pag and with it would have said badminton yeah yes yeah in India it's also V so Indian in India it's like very popular badminton so I mean we all play it and we are all bad at it so it's the same but for you it's tennis it's yeah badminton I'm actually quite quite decentered but but tennis okay I'm learning but I wouldn't say I'm really good at it I saw there was a video uh Sager posted of your room tour which uh and at some point you showed a book and I can't remember what it was was it was it agasi like a there was was it that like there was could be there was a there was a book that you really uh loved that sort of was a little I don't want to say inspiration but you you you like to see how athletes handle themselves and mentality in their careers and um can you expand on that a little bit like what when you look at U Elite Sports performers and you try to kind of take something of that uh for your own games um who do you look at like uh who is my favorite sports person like just yeah not not well there's a favorite that you want to watch perform but there's also the whole side of it like the mentality right like the mentality they take into their competition is there somebody you like to look at as a bit of a role model in that sense yeah when I was uh young I think okay when I was younger I think yeah you're so old right now you know it was uh Indian cricketer called doni I'm not sure if you know no I know like three and that is not one of the ones I know you must know vat kohi yes and uh such and and then yeah I know maybe one more anyway I don't want to anybody feel bad so yes the cricketer yeah so doni was like my role model for so many years and then it was uh I mean right now it's Noak jakich okay he is I think his mentality is one of the best in any sport yeah like I mean it it's kind of different obviously tennis and chess but I think in any sport you kind of have uh kind of need to have certain qualities to um you know that that should that can make you uh good and for me I think noak's mentality and his ability to focus is just outstanding my wife has a favorite book the name of which is currently escaping me but there's uh there's something in the book about tennis which basically says at the elite tennis level the top 20 are all the same level in tennis they can all beat each other each other yeah it's all mental yeah and do you feel like chess is the same 2740 2770 2710 I'm sure there is a cut off but do you feel it's kind of the same way none of that matters rating doesn't matter it's just mentality I'm sure mentality plays a huge role um but I wouldn't say it's all mentality I mean pure if you if you take Pure Chess Vice I guess Magnus has quite uh sure quite uh let's just remove him he's not the world champion anymore you know he's not relevant more so we are yes but uh yeah Magnus is also you know he has a great mentality and also I think slightly better at chest than uh everyone else not sure about the others I guess I guess there are different styles and also it depends on you know certain Styles match like suit better against certain opening and stuff like that but but surely a mentality plays a plays a huge uh what does a gach training camp look like what percent of it is you know I know openings are going to be a lot what percent are the openings and what percent is everything else and diet exercise sleep yeah in general I try to keep it as well-rounded as possible okay um openings clearly have to be the you know main priority in uh chess Vice mhm but uh like some amount of uh like solving or middle games you know just some Concepts or some end games it's it's not easy to spend uh you know a lot of time in in the other areas because of openings I mean how important they are but but yeah I try to keep it as well-rounded and I I mean training camps or not it I really focus on physical fitness I I do something uh either sports or some workout yog every day and uh yeah some I guess some something for you know mental health as well like meditation or something uh Before I Let You Go what does the uh future of Chess look like classical rapid Blitz Fisher random how do we get it on television do you think about that stuff ever just your role in the in the growth of the game the bigger picture or for you is it kind of like whatever the format is I'm going to show up and I'm going to play I think for uh for at least a few years classical will still be the main main thing but uh I mean surely at some point rapid and Blitz and even Fisher andem are going to catch up and with this uh you know freestyle chess I think it's a very exciting format and uh it has a lot of potential to uh take over just completely so well I might be at the next one in India so we'll see hope that might be my first time visiting India uh uh any final thoughts to the fans watching back home yeah I I hope uh you know this candidates it's a very special event and I hope all the fans watching and all the uh all the players and all the people involved uh a great time and a lot of excitement and personally I can't uh wait for it to get started but yeah I'm sure we'll all we'll all have a lot of fun that we will good cash thank you thank you appreciate your time very much and best of luck in the tournament thank you

Channel: GothamChess

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Length: 17min 2sec (1022 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2024