“Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun could be the best players in the world”

Bengaluru: Wei Yi needed at least “two to three days” to recover from the Olympics game and one of the toughest games he has ever played. After an even final game, the Chinese GM watched in horror as India's Gukesh scored a masterful win against him. Originally it was supposed to be the eagerly awaited start of the Ding Liren vs. Gukesh World Championship. Wei Yi was told on the rest day before the game against India that he would have to step in at the top table after the reigning world champions decided to sit out the game.

“Ding felt terrible after losing with White (the day before) against Le Quang Liem. Of course, we still wanted him to play (against India),” Wei, China's highest-ranked player, said in an interview with HT. “We asked him to get some sleep and hoped that on the rest day he would wake up and feel better.” . But the next day he still wasn’t feeling well and said no.”

Ding, who failed to win at the Olympics, struggles with mental health problems. Before his world championship fight against Nepomniachtchi, Ding received a poem from Wei Yi. It spoke of their friendship and the reigning world champion later mentioned that it moved him to tears.

“I'm happy because I think Ding is in much better shape now than before. I saw him trying to win games (at the Olympics). I hope he can recover as soon as possible,” said Wei Yi, who will play for the Triveni Continental Kings in the Global Chess League on October 3. “At the moment it looks like Gukesh has a better chance. But the game is still over a month away. Everything is possible.”

In 2013, the year Magnus Carlsen became world champion for the first time, Wei Yi became the fourth youngest grandmaster in the world and the youngest ever to cross 2600 Elo. He was 14 at the time. Wei Yi was considered one of the most promising child prodigies in the world at the time and surpassed Carlsen's previous record by surpassing the 2700 Elo mark at the age of 15.

He decided to go to university for a few years and returned to a changed chess scene. Mainly a wave of strong Indian players. India has two players in the top five – Arjun Erigaisi (world number 3) and Gukesh (world number 5) and four players in the four players in the top 20. In contrast is Wei Yi, who is ranked eighth in the world is the only Chinese player in the top 20. Ding just missed out.

“Players like Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun have grown very quickly and could be the best chess players in the world this year. Perhaps other countries can learn a lot from India. We didn't see too many strong young players in China. I think we need a few more years to just stop the Indians.”

At 25, Wei Yi believes it will be a challenge to deal with the squad of younger players led by the likes of Gukesh. “In the game against Gukesh it looked like I could get an easy draw. But then he began to think carefully and made some difficult steps. I made mistakes and didn't do well when I was pressed for time. There is a lot for me to improve. The way I lost such a final was sad for me. These young players are very strong and it is not easy to compete against them. That’s why I’m very nervous now.”

Does he see himself becoming the next candidate?

“I hope I have the chance to fight for it. But the road is very long now.”

Wei Yi chose university when he was a great chess talent. Others like Alireza Firouzja also took a short break from chess to devote themselves to fashion design.

“In China, players try to go to university when they play chess. We saw our best player Hou Yifan do it. I just want to learn from them. I studied business management and studied mathematics at university. Instead of practicing chess all day for five years, I choose to study at university. Of course I think I learned a lot from it. Like being part of a team and learning to think like that.”

However, the Indian prodigies have chosen to focus solely on chess. Wei Yi believes this is the surest path to success in the game.

“In my opinion, if you want to be the best in chess, you have to focus solely on that,” Wei Yi said. “It's almost impossible to do well at two things at the same time. You have to ask yourself which one you want to give up, which one you want to keep and work hard on.”