Delighted that the ‘let us do whatever it takes’ attitude paid off, says Sandeep Singhal

Sandeep Singhal ensured D. Gukesh had everything he needed to mount the strongest challenge possible for the World chess championship. His affair with chess had begun by setting up the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy four years ago.

Gukesh must have been relieved when WestBridge Capital, of which Singhal is a co-founder, came on board as his sponsor. Perhaps no other challenger in the history of the World championship got the kind of support he got.

He ensured Gukesh had all the people he wanted to work with: coach Grzegorz Gajewski, mental coach Paddy Upton, and top players like Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vincent Keymer as seconds. “For me, it was — let us do whatever it takes,” Singhal tells The Hindu. “I was asking Gukesh if there was something where there may be a little bit of extra advantage we can eke out. And we ended up talking about potentially some kind of sports psychologist angle.”

He made enquiries and found that Paddy Upton was the best in business. “But Paddy said he had never done chess,” says Singhal. “I asked Paddy to call up Gukesh and see how he feels. He told me the boy reminded him of Rahul Dravid.”

The preparation for the World championship had been going for some six months. “There were training camps with all those seconds in Europe and it had to be done in secrecy,” says Singhal. “I got my office to organise those camps.”

Singhal is delighted that all the efforts have paid off and he could play a part in Gukesh winning the World championship. It had all begun with a conversation during a 50 metre walk with Viswanathan Anand at Bengaluru.

“I felt chess had the potential to produce world class talents from India with an academy partnering Anand,” says Singhal.