Sandeep Singhal provided D. Gukesh with everything he needed to face the strongest possible challenge in the World Chess Championship 2024. His journey in chess began four years ago with the founding of WestBridge Anand Chess Academy.
Gukesh must have been relieved when WestBridge Capital, of which Singhal is a co-founder, joined the ranks of his backers. Perhaps no other challenger in World Cup history has received as much support as he did.
He assured that Gukesh had as replacements all the people he wanted to work with, be it coach Grzegorz Gajewski, mental coach Paddy Upton, or top players such as Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vincent Keymer.
“For me it was – let’s do whatever it takes,” Singhal said Sports stars.
“I asked Gukesh if there was anything we could use to give us an extra edge. We ended up talking about potentially taking a sports psychologist approach,” he added.
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He investigated and discovered that Paddy Upton was the best in the business.
“But Paddy said he had never played chess,” says Singhal. “I asked Paddy to call Gukesh and see how he was doing. He told me that the boy reminded him of Rahul Dravid.
Preparations for the world championship took about six months.
“There were training camps in Europe with all these seconds and you had to do it secretly. I have my office to organize these camps,” Singhal said.
Singhal was delighted that all his efforts had paid off and he could contribute to Gukesh winning the world championship. It all started with a conversation during a 50-meter walk with Viswanathan Anand in Bengaluru.
“I felt that chess had the potential to produce world-class talent from India, thanks to the academy working with Anand,” Singhal said.
