It’s almost a fortnight since the Candidates ended with a teen champion from India making history. For some of the other Indians who played in Toronto, the past week has been about overcoming jet lag and self-doubt, making peace with scuppered chances and staying away from the chessboard.

Vidit Gujrathi, 29, who made his first Candidates appearance and finished sixth, is staring at a seemingly ambiguous wait for another chance. His Round 11 defeat to Ian Nepomniachtchi, after a marathon game where the Russian escaped two losing positions, still rankles.

“After that game, I was completely shattered,” Vidit told HT. “It killed any chance I had in the tournament. I don’t think I managed my emotions too well. I had to be more prepared for things going wrong. I want to work on getting mentally tougher. I now have to wait two more years (for the next Candidates) without certainty.”

Vidit defeated world No.3 Hikaru Nakamura twice and had eight decisive games in 14 rounds, which included five losses. It’s a lot of emotions to process over a three-week tournament. “It was partially by design. I modified my playing style over the past two years so I didn’t hesitate to take risks. When you play with fire, you can burn yourself. It was surely hard to handle so many losses. Almost felt like I lost more games in this single tournament than I did in a whole year previously. But I’ve no regrets of playing the way I did because I generated a lot of chances. Had I capitalised on them, I would have had a different tournament altogether.”

Vidit’s last-round game against Alireza Firouzja lasted under five minutes after the latter forced a draw. On the day of the closing ceremony, Vidit decided to get a dopamine hit and go skydiving.

“I’m very confused at the moment over how I’m going to approach the next few months or year,” said Vidit. “If I’m not into top professional chess or don’t have big goals then I wouldn’t be motivated. I need something to look forward to…I’m still figuring it out.”

For Praggnanandhaa it was an impressive debut peppered with catchy opening surprises. He’s unhappy over a few missed chances but realises he’s come off with more than just a fifth-place finish. His opening work with Peter Svidler has been eye-popping and his peer D Gukesh walking away with the Candidates offers him extra motivation.

“I didn’t think we (Gen Next) were there yet but Gukesh’s win shows we are,” he said. “He played really well and deserved to win, quite honestly. I was trying to get a fighting position with both colours and though I played suspicious openings I knew them well. My approach was somewhat similar to Gukesh but my situation demanded that at some point I score more wins. So, I had to go crazy and fight. When you’re leading (like Gukesh was) you can wait for your chances. I wish I had been more practical where it was needed and not missed some of the chances because in a tournament like the Candidates you don’t get too many of them.”

Koneru Humpy, 37, who ended tied second in the Women’s Candidates, hasn’t touched a chessboard since her return. Early in the tournament, she had to grapple with the unsettling news of the death of her maternal grandfather. Its effect spilled over into her play in the first half. “There were a lot of emotional struggles when I was by myself preparing for the games. At some point I suppose I looked at the standings, collected myself and started playing much better.”

She doesn’t get to spend as much time on chess as the younger players since becoming a mother in 2017, and preparing for classical tournaments, especially the likes of the Candidates, is a lot more challenging. “I didn’t expect to finish second. I was just playing the second half to save rating points. For me more than the placings it’s about the joy of playing good games. I can’t say I had too many of those.” Humpy has long been among the strongest female players who haven't won a Women's World Championship.

"My daughter Ahana was so happy to see me after close to a month that for the first time she couldn't stop crying and forgot to ask me my result rightaway. After a couple of days she found my medal, wore it around her neck and asked me why I win silver every time. For some reason it’s been only silver medals for me over the past year-and-a-half,” Humpy laughed.

Praggnanandhaa (18), Vidit and Humpy are at distinct phases of their careers. The takeaways from the Candidates, where only the first place mattered, work differently for each of them. If it’s the spur of a peer’s win for Praggnanandhaa, it’s the challenge of pushing past disenchantment and carving a fresh goal for Vidit. Humpy perhaps has the most onerous job of all. She has to explain to her seven-year-old for the nth time why the medal she brought home isn’t gold.

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