OSLO: Over the last year, a number of former world champions have taken aim at D Gukesh's perceived lack of form, lack of titles and lack of big wins. The cacophony — the white noise so to speak — has been led by Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen and some of the other elite GMs have run with the brief.
To all of those GMs, the Gukesh camp issued a message on Tuesday. "I don't think meeting the expectations of former world champions is his main goal," says Grzegorz Gajewski, Gukesh's primary coach. Considering the Indian world champion has seldom used any of his social media platforms to respond, this is the clearest sign yet that he hasn't been too bothered with the comments aimed at his throne since becoming world champion on that surreal Singapore night in December 2024.
But the Pole, who has been by Gukesh's side in some capacity or the other since the Wijk aan Zee event in 2023, conceded that performances 'have been disappointing'. However, he says 'it has been full of lessons, challenges'. "His Classical results have been disappointing," he says just after dropping his ward on the eighth round of Norway Chess. But he's careful to balance that statement. "People understand that he achieved a certain level... many thought that he was overperforming for a 17-year-old, after that he's been fairly underperforming. I think it's just a matter of time for him to stabilise."
The World No. 20 has lost a ton of rating points since becoming champion (almost 50 in the last year alone) but Gajewski says he can see certain changes over the last few weeks. 'Changes' in this context is over-the-board as well as away from the playing hall. "The way he has been performing here, there is optimism," he says. "It's not perfect, obviously, it's not matching our ambitions but it's better. There's an improvement." When asked to explain, the 40-year-old says it's about his 'resilience'. "He had a couple of good games in Tata Steel and that was it. Rest of the tournament was bad, Prague was also bad. Here it's not like he has played great chess, it's normal. It's not been his A game for sure but it's easy to perform well when it's your A game. For me, the important thing is for him to keep his level regardless."
Even within this answer, the resilience is of two types. One, this ability to fight past below-par results and keep at it. And, two, the ability to convert losing positions to wins. It's what he did against R Praggnanandhaa in one of the earlier rounds in Oslo. At one point, he was down on time and against the engine as well but he put forth a sequence of strong moves and was a move from checkmate when his compatriot resigned.
Off the board, he's also 'happier'. "Anyone who watched him during the rest day will know that for sure. He's also very sharp." The 2732-rated player, who has already put in the full team of seconds for the World Championship match against Javokhir Sindarov, hasn't had a lot of time to focus purely on training because of the calendar. It's one of the reasons why he decided to pull out of the Grand Chess Tour.
While Gajewski refused to comment on the pull-out itself — "I'm not allowed to divulge those details" — he says it has been easier to find the balance between competitive matches and working on new ideas since deciding to withdraw. "Finding the balance is a constant struggle in the current calendar," he says. "After we withdrew from the GCT, it has become a little easier for him but the last year was crazy but he also gained a lot of experience."
In the world of elite chess, there can be a tendency for some churn between players and coaches but Gajewski says 'we are a good match in terms of character'. "I also think we are a good match in terms of age. I'm experienced and at the same time, not too old (smiles) so he doesn't perceive me that way. We can joke with each other."
Irrespective of what happens in this tournament and the next five months, their medium-term goal is clear. Making Gukesh a two-time world champion. And the plan to work towards that has already started.
Paddy and Gukesh are in touch
While the Pole pleaded the fifth when it came to speaking about the team they have assembled this time, he did reveal that Gukesh and Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach who was with him in 2024, are 'talking'. They have been in touch, yeah," he said.
