Dommaraju Gukesh didn't sleep for a minute on the night he won the world championship. The next morning, though, he felt fresh as ever, got through a host of media commitments, signed memorabilia and took pictures with fans for an hour. Then came the moment he'd been waiting for: he was presented the World Championship trophy. He hadn't touched the trophy till then, saying he'd do so at the closing ceremony.
It was a moment that, he said, he had replayed millions of times in his head. "Every morning, this moment was the reason why I woke up, and the reason why I did every little thing so far," he said.
"For me to actually be here and hold this trophy, and experience this moment in reality, it means more than anything else in life."
In multiple press conferences over the last three weeks, Gukesh had spoken of the pride of representing India so it was little surprise that when he went up on stage to receive the trophy with the tricolour draped around him.
Only 17 people before Gukesh had been crowned world champion since William Steinitz first won it in 1886, and the enormity of his achievement dawned on Gukesh, even though he'd quipped earlier in the day that the feeling hasn't quite sunk in yet.
"Very few people get the opportunity to live this moment in their lives, and I'm very glad to be one of them," he said.
The fans queued up in their hundreds, just to get their moment with the champion. A young boy had brought flowers for him, there was a father and son wearing customized t-shirts with Gukesh's picture printed on them, too. As you went through that line, the diversity -- in terms of nationality, gender and age -- was staggering.
���� World Champion Gukesh D receives his trophy and immediately passes it on to his parents! ��#DingGukesh pic.twitter.com/sLJVTWujbR
- International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 13, 2024
The special moment was made even more special for him by the presence of a number of his family members at the closing ceremony. Through the match, only his father Rajinikanth and coach Grzegorz Gajewski were with him, but on Friday morning, he was joined by his mother Padma and a host of other family members.
His mother isn't of the superstitious kind, but back home in Chennai, she doesn't follow any of Gukesh's games live. Why take the unnecessary stress about something she can't control, she asks. She went a step further on the evening of game 14, switching off the internet on her phone. Someone would call her anyway if there was good news. Sure enough, there was. So, are there big celebrations planned for when he gets back to Chennai? For now, she isn't thinking about all that. She just wants her son to get sleep, which he hasn't for at least the last 36 hours.
For the rest of his family, though, nothing much changes. His uncle, who spent the early years of Gukesh's life playing casual chess with him, before he began training seriously at the age of 6, said that for the whole family, he remains just another 18-year-old.
"Engalukku avan Guki. Avalo dhaan. [He's just our Guki. That's it.]," he told ESPN.