NEW DELHI: Earlier this year, 19-year-old Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca arrived at Wijk aan Zee full of hope, only to be crushed by exhaustion as his eagerly awaited Tata Steel Masters debut became a grueling test of endurance. Entering the fray as last year’s Challengers champion, Mendonca had hoped to kick off the 2025 with a bang. But just as he longed to challenge the world’s elite, illness struck. “I was just exhausted, you know, fatigued, everything,” Leon tells TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview. “I would probably sleep like 13 hours a day and had no energy to prepare. My whole mindset during the game was to go back to the room.” The results inevitably suffered as he finished second last, starting the year on a low note.

Nine months on, Leon has been named the off

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