The elevator opens and a smiling Ding Liren steps out, accompanied by his second Nie Hua and Richard Rapport. They seem to be engrossed in serious chess conversations as they enter into a serious battle to retain the World Championship crown. As the camera pans along with Ding and his two lieutenants, there is a fourth figure who sits a couple of steps back, wanting to stay out of the glare. But it’s a futile attempt, when Ding stops mid-step, turns back, smiles, and bids him an innocent farewell.
Ye Xiaoping, Ding Liren’s mother, is the woman who introduced the 17th world champion to chess at the age of four in Wenzhou, China. In another life, Ye Xiaoping worked as a nurse at a hospital. These days she spends her time as a traveling companion to her 32-year-old son.
A few minutes later, the man currently occupying the most real estate in Ding Liren’s mind – Di Gukesh – also rushed into the playing hall after the screaming fans. Coincidentally, he also saw his father Dr. for a few seconds. Rajini Kanth – An ENT specialist, who quits his well-paying practice to become the full-time guardian of his teenage son, takes a break for a few seconds to return.
Enough has been said about the role Grzegorz Gajewski played in helping Gukesh chart his way to becoming the youngest world champion in history. There is also plenty about the roles played by Richard Rapport and Nie Hua in Ding Liren’s preparation for the World Championships.
But the most important seconds on the team of Gukesh and Ding Liren may have a lot less to do with the moves they make on the board. Ye Xiaoping and Dr Rajni Kanth are probably the most important members of the two teams when it comes to boosting their morale as both players go through emotional and physical pains while playing in the World Championship match in Singapore.
In Singapore, as her brooding son plays in the most high-pressure games of his life, Rajini sometimes wanders non-stop through the corridors of the Aquarius Hotel on Sentosa Island, where games are being played. After the games are over, he’s at his son’s side in a flash, sometimes accompanying him to the press conference room and then taking him to the car that whisks them away. He’s there to intervene if anyone tries to upset the world’s most serious teenager.
At times, the father becomes a photographer, clicking photos of fans with his son as they stop on the way to the van. “Normally I am here with my father. He takes care of everything away from chess so that I can concentrate fully on my work. My mother also supports me in her own way from home,” Gukesh said at a press conference.
Ding’s ever-smiling mother, on the other hand, walks out of Singapore’s room and always keeps an eye on her son. After the press conference, as Ding and his second escalator make their way to their private transport, surrounded by cellphone-carrying media men, Ye Xiaoping climbs the adjacent stairs, not wanting to be in the frame. It is known that he supported his son even when he chose the chair for the 14-game match.
“Here, my mother supports me. in general. She picks me up and sometimes provides food for me. She is doing her job,” Ding Liren said.
But away from the excessive glare of the World Championships, at events like Norway Chess, Ding Liren sees the emotional support his mother provides him. In Stavanger, during the Norway Chess Tournament, she was always on hand when she was away from the chess board, as her son played the most volatile chess of his career.
There are other chess parents around: Magnus Carlsen’s father Henrik, who has never been in the audience area while his son has played since Magnus’s childhood; Pragyanandha and Vaishali’s mother Nagalakshmi, who prefers to find a corner in the play hall away from the sight of both her children. But Ding’s mother always seemed to find a spot directly in his eye line. When things got hairy on the board, Ding looked away and seemed to be seeking the comforting sight of his mother among the fans. Just for a brief second. As soon as he finished his game, she was there, always, with a reassuring hand on his arm.
In Norway, with limited cameras trained on her son, she was more hands-on. She straightened his suit when he came to the mic for interviews, gave him a banana after a particularly intense game, and even went for walks with him on rest days.
If Ding’s rise to chess can be traced back to a decision his mother made when he was four, Gukesh’s rise came after many sacrifices (he doesn’t like the word in this context) by Rajni, giving up his growing practice. “When Gukesh started playing in overseas events, I had to stop practicing at both the clinics. My wife was in a government job, so we decided she would continue,” Rajini once told The Indian Express. “I’m still not sure what I’m doing with my career. But it’s okay.”