"5-10% chance" - Viswanathan Anand on the possibility of Gukesh vs Arjun clash for the world championship
For Gukesh Dommaraju, 2024 has been nothing short of a fairy tale. The year began with a heartbreak as Gukesh missed out on a maiden Tata Steel Chess title when he lost to Wei Yi in what was his 5th game in the tie-breaker round. But it ended with him being the youngest World Champion that the sport has ever seen.
In between, he also secured a Chess Olympiad team gold, an individual gold on the top board in the same event, the prestigious Candidate's trophy, and even had a book published about him.
Yet, he is not the best Indian chess player, according to the chess rankings at least. Gukesh is currently ranked fifth in the world. Arjun Erigaisi, ranked fourth, is rather the highest-ranked Indian player.
Arjun has had a phenomenal 2024. He won some noteworthy tournaments including the WR Chess Masters Cup, the Stepan Avagyan Memorial and the Menorca Open this year. He also bagged the individual gold on board three at the Chess Olympiad, winning ten points in 11 games.
Arjun knows that he has the potential to become a World Champion. So, do the fans. Some have even started dreaming of a "Gukesh vs Arjun" clash for the world championship.
Hence, it was no surprise that Viswanathan Anand was asked for his thoughts about the possibility of it happening when he hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit.
"5-10% chance it can happen" replied the five-time world champion.
While the response might seem nonchalant, coming from the torchbearer of Indian Chess himself, it only fuelled the optimism further.
"Those are actually pretty high odds, all things considered." commented a user.
"I see it's greater than 0.27% so very much possible" said another.
The last one referred to Anand's comment about Gukesh's chances of winning the final round of the World Championship. Anand had joined the broadcast via a video call and was asked by commentator Tania Sachdev whether the game was heading to a draw.
"99.73%. We will keep a little bit of hope", Anand had replied
An hour later, Ding Liren made a blunder on the 55th move and consequently, Gukesh was crowned as the World Champion.
"If I sledged someone, I would feel worse afterwards" - Viswanathan Anand
Fans from all over the world tuned into the AMA session, asking a myriad of questions that gave insights into Anand's predilections about things beyond chess. For example, who knew that Anand was a Real Madrid fan?
Several questions were met with witty answers that amused the fans. For instance, when asked about the 'nicest chess player' he has met, Anand had this to say:-
"I like several, but probably people who lose to me feel very nice"
When asked for 'advice' on dealing with rage and stress felt upon making a blunder move, Anand replied:-
"I could use such advice myself :)"
The chess maestro was even asked whether he had ever tried to sledge an opponent. This is how Anand responded:-
"The problem is if I did something like sledging that I would feel worse afterwards and anyway I know I feel much better."
Along with such amusing responses, Anand also dished out some suggestions to amateur players.
"The best way to practise is to play often", said Anand, "It would be nice if we had a reliable way to improve but honestly you play chess, you look at it and the brain in its own mysterious way improves."
From preparation advice to his old experiences, from chess to stock trading, Anand was asked questions regarding all walks of life. He was happy to answer most of them. He signed off by saying this:
"Thank you very much everyone. Very entertaining questions and it was nice interacting with you. I will try to pop in once in a while and answer a couple of questions at a time and maybe that will keep it going.