Champion nation

Chess ecosystem offers lessons for others sports

Teenage grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has just won the right to challenge world chess champion Ding Liren. The 17-year-old is by far the youngest challenger in the 138-year history of the world championship. The young man won a gruelling event, Candidates, where too he was the youngest participant. In a broader sense, Candidates also indicated how much India’s chess culture had advanced. India had the largest contingent in the tournament, with five of the 16 participants. There were three players in the Open section (Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa) and two in the women’s section (Koneru Humpy and Rameshbabu Vaishaly).