The minerals behind Gukesh's winning move

Lots of sleep, morning tennis and less intensive chess sessions are some of the routines that helped Indian Grandmaster re-write history at Toronto

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

THERE was a point when Magnus Carlsen struggled to identify with D Gukesh's thought process during the latter's last round Candidates tie against Hikaru Nakamura. "I hate it," the Norwegian said on live commentary.

Ten minutes after the 17-year-old's 10... cxd4 and 11... b4, Carlsen performed a u-turn. "I love what Gukesh has done," the multiple former world champion said. "I didn't even think of b4, it's a nice.

I don't think I have seen it before." In that inspired 10-minutes, Gukesh went from one of the contenders to the only contender. Those moves invited Nakamura to burn time. It forced him to defend while the Indian further consolidated his position in the middle-game. The endgame was only going to be a draw as they played down to bare kings. After 71 moves, Gukesh had the half point. Now, he had to wait.

He tried to follow the game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana (a winner in this match would have induced tie-breaks after Gukesh's draw) on commentary. The stress, though, was too much. So, he went back to his hotel room with Grzegorz Gajewski, his main second. He also went on a walk with the Pole.

That was when his dad came running out of the venue to say 'it's over'.

History was rewritten early on Monday morning. Gukesh had become the youngest to qualify for the title match. While Toronto bore witness to it, the top-board Olympiad winner from 2022 had made multiple small tweaks in his everyday rhythm to ensure he gave himself the best chance.