After Magnus Carlsen, Chess Has Entered a New Age

When Gukesh Dommaraju was a small child growing up in Chennai, India, his parents wanted him to be an athlete. Tennis, they thought. But Gukesh was drawn to another tactical game: chess. He was one of millions of Indian children who grew up under the influence of Viswanathan Anand, whose five world-championship titles led to an explosion of interest across the country. When Gukesh was seven, he watched Magnus Carlsen, then twenty-two years old, defeat his hero, Anand, to become the new world champion. Gukesh dreamed of being the one to bring the title back to India. In the fourth grade, he won the under-nine Asia championships, which convinced his parents of his potential, and they made the sort of sacrifices that families of aspiring champions in any sport often make—especially in chess, a game in which early specialization can bring outsized rewards.Gukesh’s training was unusual in certain respects. For one thing, his coach, the grand master Vishnu Prasanna, eschewed computer chess engines for young players. Almost alone among the new generation of top players, Gukesh did not start working with computers until after he became a grand master—at twelve years, seven months, and seven days, the second-youngest ever to