Chennai: D Gukesh, the youngest world champion, is seen as a role model for prodigious chess talent who are working their way to the top.Gukesh’s rapid rise over the years has positively impacted many a player, with world No. 21 Vincent Keymer being one of them. The 20-year-old Keymer, hailing from Germany, took key lessons from close quarters when he worked as a second for the ‘Indian prince’ before and during the World Championship late last year.Gukesh’s flexibility in his style of play has particularly caught Keymer’s eye and he believes that the trait has been helping the Chennai boy to stand out in a highly-competitive arena.“I feel that Gukesh is quite flexible in his repertoire. He can basically play whatever is given to him or he has an idea of. Of course, his fighting spirit is very good… he can find a way and understand positions that are very tough to understand. He also calculates extremely well,” said Keymer, who will fight for top honours in the Chennai Grand Masters.
Keymer described his stint with Gukesh as “special”. The German youngster was stationed in Malaga during the title clash and worked alongside the likes of P Harikrishna to provide Gukesh the cutting edge over China’s Ding Liren.“It was quite a nice experience. It was the first time that I did this kind of work and it was interesting to see. I learnt quite a few things during that time. It is very tough to say what exactly translates into my play or level, but there are things that I learnt which are helpful for my own performances. All that matters is the sum of all those things,” he said.
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Keymer is in awe of India’s enviable talent pool in the 64-square game and the backing the players receive. “It is clear that India, if not already, is becoming the biggest nation in chess. There are so many top players, young talent. There are so many Grandmasters coming up, so it is really impressive. India can basically field three teams (in events like the Olympiad) that would belong to the top-10 of the world. Good support is being provided to chess players in India. I feel that there is more potential for it in Europe,” Keymer added.‘Goal is to qualify for Candidates’: Keymer’s immediate goal is to get himself into “good shape” in the journey towards the Candidates. “I did not play many classical tournaments in recent times. It is certainly going to be important now as Grand Swiss and World Cup act as qualifiers for the Candidates. Qualifying for the Candidates is more or less the main focus for the next few months. Obviously, it is going to be very tough, but I am going to give it my all.”
