Gukesh started chess as an extra-curricular activity: Coach Bhaskar

It all started as an extra-curricular activity in school, which later became a life-long passion for D Gukesh and led to him becoming one of the best chess exponents in the world.

Grandmaster Gukesh, on Sunday, made history by leading India to its first-ever chess Olympiad gold in the 'Open' category in Budapest.

Gukesh's childhood coach, V Bhaskar, who spotted his talent at the Velammal Vidyalaya when he was just seven years old, said he saw in him the hunger to excel at a very tender age.

"We started when he (Gukesh) was in class 1 at Velammal Vidyalaya. He used to come for extracurricular activities. I saw a spark in him at the age of seven and asked him to come for personal training, and we worked for many years," said Bhaskar about the third-youngest GM in history of the game, who will compete against Ding Liren of China for the world title later this year.

Bhaskar added that Gukesh was indeed a child prodigy who liked to experiment with his game from early days.

"He started