THE wine was flowing, the banquet hall was filled with laughter and the phones were clicking memories to last a life time. On stage, a performer was ensuring that this segment of Norway Chess' Closing Ceremony would be spoken about for years to come. Just after the curtains were drawn on the tournament's 14th edition, another set of curtains were being opened backstage.
D Gukesh, the youngest undisputed world champion in history, was speaking to a few Indian journalists. He said managing expectations has been one of the hardest things to do as world champion. He called this the 'elephant in the room'. In one of the most vulnerable interviews ever given by an Indian sportsperson, the 20-year-old spoke about the last 12 months, why he has had issues with motivation for parts of 2025 but why he will continue to fight to overcome this loss in form.
"It's still something that I want to spend time with," he said as he gears up for his next challenge — Chennai Grand Masters — from July 16. Excerpts..
With how the year has gone, how do you look at the rest of the months building up to the World Championship (he's due to face Javokhir Sindarov across three weeks in November-December)?
Yeah, it's not been great; especially this tournament (Norway Chess). Not many positives to look at right now but okay, there are still six months to go. I think all I need to do is clear. Work hard, try to get back to form and try to relax a bit around the results. But, yeah, it's a challenge. I'm just trying my best.
Seeing Sindarov here (he was there to support Bibisara Assaubayeva), did that act as a visual reminder about the upcoming World Championship?
I think for World Championships, you don't need a reminder (smiles) . It's always there in the back of the mind.
Just on Sindarov, how much fun was the rest day when Sindarov and you swapped places when you went on the speed boat he was on and he came on the sail boat you where on?
The sailboat was nice but we were not doing much. The speedboat was really fun. It was like my first time driving a boat. It was really nice experience and on my birthday too.
These moments are very rare during tournaments, right?
It's part of the official tournament (here). You are anyway outside, so you might as well have fun. And in general, having fun on rest days. Like, anyway, even in other tournaments, I go for sports with Gayu (coach Grzegorz Gajewski) or some other friends. A bit of activity is quite nice.
Do those things help you with chess? Like, for example, the boat thing.. a momentary pause?
It's a challenge to switch on and off. I think that's one of the qualities that like people who are consistent, they have sustainable, long careers. They are able to switch on and off when they need. I still have to develop that quality.
From your own personal experience, what's the hardest thing about being a world champion?
Managing expectations. As much as you try to switch off from the outside world, you are still aware that there is this kind of elephant in the room. Like you are expected and also you expect something. I'm in general also an ambitious player and I keep going for wins. Considering all these things, it has been pretty hard. But, okay, it's a challenge. I either break from it or grow through it. Right now, it's not looking great but let's see. It's still up.
You are an ambitious player. How hard is it... so there are positions where you know you could play for a draw but it would be the easy thing to do, an un-Gukesh thing to do. Which is why you push for it and maybe then lose it. Is that the harder thing to do as opposed to settling for draws?
It's just the nature of who I am. Since a young age, I've been playing a lot of Opens and you need to win a lot of Opens. You need to be tricky. You need to start winning a lot of games. So, it's just the way I was brought up. But in chess, you have to be objective. You need to give in to the demands of the position. And sometimes, when you want the result too much, it gets in the way of your objective.
And that's what's been happening. I lost so many games which I should have just played and saved. So, yeah, it's something related with self-control, I think. And managing expectations. I mean, all these are very, very minor things. But that's what makes the difference at the top. Because everybody who plays has a very high level.
When you talk about expectations and pushing for wins and chess being objective... you have also pushed for wins in the Olympiads, Candidates and the World Championships... do you ever tell yourself, it's fine as long as I keep winning the biggest events? What's your internal monologue like?
Not really. There's no excuse for not being objective. It's a job of a professional to do that. And I've not been doing it. So, there's no excuse for that. It's just that I need to manage myself better. There's nothing more to it.
When you say manage yourself better, in what sense?
Just be more disciplined and manage your ambitions better. Because being ambitious is good as long as you control it. I mean, anything is good as long as you control it. And lately, my strengths have been controlling me, which is understandable. It's a new phase for me. It's not the phase that a lot of 19 or 20-year-olds go through (smiles). So, I think I can cut myself a bit of slack. But, yeah. If I want to grow, I need to do some hard things, right?
What are these hard things?
Be as serious about the process, but relax around the results. Make peace with whatever has happened. I try my best. Trying my best means being ambitious, but not letting it control my decisions.
You talked about being 19, 20-year-old. Till last week, you were a teen. Do you ever tell yourself, 'you know what, I'm still a teen. So, it's okay. It's fine'?
I think whenever you tell something like that, you're kind of tricking yourself. Because you know that you care. You know that this means a lot. And then, if you try to tell yourself, okay, that's fine'. It's not really... You're not tricking yourself anymore. The truth is, I care. I do get affected. I need to be performing, despite of all that. And about the age, I'm not using it as an excuse. It's just that, you know, it's normal. But also, I don't want to be... I want to do something more to strive for greatness. I'm not using it as an excuse. It's just something that I can understand these problems better. It doesn't mean it's fine.
When Sindarov was here, he spoke a lot about counter-strike. Do you have a similar release where you just fully immerse yourself.. where you forget about chess?
I think my friends are a big part of my life. I... Even when I'm at home, tournaments, when I feel like my friends are there. When I talk to them, I feel great. Yeah, they're a huge part of my life. Other than my friends... listening to music. I like something physical, like running and walking, stuff like that. Yeah, everybody has their own. Counter-strike is an interesting example... not chess players but chess-related. People who I have met on this journey, who I have known from childhood.
You have worked with Paddy Upton for the last World Championship. This year, have you put in additional effort on the mental aspect of the sport?
I'm still working with Paddy. The work has been going great. You know, you can have all the best support, but the challenge is still a pretty tough challenge. As I said earlier, I'm very happy where I am compared to a couple of months back, maybe. But, it's clear I still have a long way to go. But, yeah, all I can do is improve. I also feel like improvement happens before results happen. If I genuinely believe improvement is happening, then results will catch up on itself.
This is what Gajewski (coach Grzegorz Gajewski) also said. That there's a lot of work happening but it's like when you become a GM, sometimes you chase the thing for so many months and it doesn't work out. And then in one second, something just clicks. You have no control over it and it just happens. Do you look at it something like that?
Yeah, I think it's like... it's a normal thing, right? Because, for anybody, becoming a world champion is such a huge drive that most people are lucky enough not to achieve it. So, they constantly have something to push themselves. And after that happens, you need to find something else that drives you. Like, it is a new phase. Obviously, it's not like I'm sitting on the couch and that's how my results are. I'm still putting in a lot of work. But, yeah, there are very minute things which I have to think about and I've been thinking about a lot. It's a challenge. I mean, one of the instances I remember also, after the cricket team won the 2011 World Cup, I think they had this streak of results going into the next couple of years where they were doing pretty badly.
You like 'A Shot at History'. I'm sure you have seen Abhinav Bindra, maybe you relate to that also, where Bindra wins an Olympic gold, something he's chased all his career and then completely loses motivation. In your case, as you said, everybody is pushing themselves because they are chasing the World Championship. You already achieved it at the age of 18. So, to find that new target, the next target, was that kind of difficult?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you can still do the work. You can still do everything that you've been doing. But the reason why you're doing it is different. You're not waking up somebody striving for the World Championship. You're already there. But it doesn't mean you have to lose motivation. There was obviously some, probably in parts of 25, there was some motivation issues. But, I think, if you really love the sport, if you're able to connect back to it, that's why people keep saying, find the reason why you started playing the sport. I feel like external resources can never, they're not reliable sources of motivation for a very long time. So, something that drives you from within, that's something that I've been trying to connect with.
What is it that you really enjoy about chess right now?
Right now, it's a challenge. I can't say I'm fully there. But I'm focusing on just having fun, waking up every day and trying to learn something new about chess. Because I simply, I don't know what anything else that I want to spend my whole day with. Chess is something, even though I'm playing badly and it's frustrating, it's still something that I want to spend time with. To do something badly for a long time... if you don't have any kind of love for the game, there's no reason to continue. But just the fact that I'm trying so hard, means that there is something behind all of this. Just connecting with it, I think is the reason that I want to keep going.