Is D Gukesh no longer the player who became the youngest-ever chess world champion last December? Are there cracks in his game that were not visible in 2024, when everything he touched turned into gold? There is apprehension all around following his indifferent run this year. He has not won any title and after a long time, he has slipped out of the top 10 in world rankings.
These fears are not completely baseless. A world champion will not win every tournament, but in Gukesh’s case it’s not just that. When top players are below-par, the aura around them doesn’t diminish. The Indian has been somewhat timid. In his last outing, the Grand Swiss Open in Uzbekistan, he lost three games in a row against opponents rated well below. Gukesh is not in the 10 primarily because of the rating points lost in that event.
There is another, possibly broader, picture. Out of top 10 alright, the Chennai star is still ranked 11th. From No. 5 in the January rating list, Gukesh achieved a career-best No. 3 in March. Despite not winning titles, he remained in the top 6 until September. It’s because of one bad tournament that there is so much talk. It’s said that two of the games he lost in Uzbekistan were against teenagers. It’s not said that Gukesh himself turned 19 in May.
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It was going to be a difficult year for the player who beat China’s Ding Liren in the World Championship duel. Even if he doesn’t accept this, there is bound to be pressure on a newly-crowned champion. Opponents are extra cautious. Some of them are keen to prove a point. The motivation of playing against Gukesh has increased manifold. The game is the same, but the ‘playing conditions’ have changed drastically.
Until the meltdown, Gukesh was having an unspectacular yet decent run. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been in the top six until September. The highlight was of course beating Magnus Carlsen in the classical and rapid formats for the first time. The first one came at the ‘king’s’ territory in Norway. He topped the rapid section of a prestigious rapid-and-blitz competition featuring Carlsen to dispel the notion that he is not good at speed chess.
Despite the odds, he soldiered on. When others might have contemplated a break, he chose to challenge himself in different situations. Outside the top 10, but 11th is not catastrophic. Ask Gukesh, if this setback is greater or the Carlsen conquests are. You know the answer. One doesn’t become worse as a player after that.
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