This is a crossover we're on board for: R Ashwin playing chess against Gukesh Dommaraju, the youngest world chess champion.
Ashwin keeps up a steady prattle (or maybe it's commentary), admitting he started the game off off a little too aggressively, joking about how seriously he takes his skills, worrying about whether Gukesh has laid a trap for him. Gukesh, in response, mumbles some encouraging words to Ashwin about his game.
Ashwin is playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2025. CSK will meet Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home tonight, March 28.
The 18-year-old Gukesh, who beat world champion Ding Liren last year in a tense contest in the FIDE World Championship, also got to walk around Chepauk, imagining how it must be like when his idol, MS Dhoni, walks onto the field.
Gukesh talks about being inspired by Dhoni's hairstyles, his presence of mind, his calm and wanting to emulate those qualities in his own game. He recalls Dhoni finishing the 2011 World Cup final with a six as a moment that's seared in his mind as an Indian cricket fan.
"How he doesn't react to anything that happens," Gukesh says of Dhoni. "How he is able to calmly think in any situation. In the highest-pressure moments, he is able to think with a clear mind. Seeing them when I was child, it felt like I had to emulate it in my own craft. In that sense, he really inspired me.
"For any Indian, that final six in the 2011 World Cup - that moment is always on my mind. The 'Dhoni finishes off in style' - nothing can compete with that."