D Gukesh, the youngest undisputed world chess champion in history, has admitted that managing expectations has been one of the hardest things as world champion.
"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," he told a few Indian journalists just after Norway Chess' Closing Ceremony.
"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."
In one of the most candid conversations by an Indian sportsperson, the 20-year-old said he had struggled for motivation during 'parts of 2025' after he became world champion. "You can still do everything that you've been doing," the 20-year-old said.
"But the reason why you're doing it is different. You're not waking up 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 2025, 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."
The Chennai boy, who had dreamed about winning the title since becoming one of the youngest GMs of all time when he was 12, vowed to try harder and keep fighting because 'I don't know what else I would want to spend the 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."
