SINGAPORE: "It was love at first sight."
Outside the decked up Capitol Theatre, the venue for the media day and Opening Ceremony ahead of the chess World Championship match between D Gukesh and Ding Liren, Viswanathan Anand was all smiles. He had just cracked this one sentence response when he was asked why he recommended Grzegorz Gajewski to work exclusively with D Gukesh.
Gajewski, the Pole, is the one of the few direct links between Anand, India's only world champion in the Classical format, and Gukesh, the teen who hopes to emulate Anand sometime over the next few weeks.
When the Pole was working with a lot of Indian minds at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA), the five-time world champion and the Pole, who was part of Anand's team at the World Championship at Sochi in 2014, exchanged a few words. "It wasn't about convincing (Gajewski)," Anand said. "They tried and it worked."
That's one way of putting it. Over the last two years, since they came together just before the 2023 edition of Wijk aan Zee, this has slowly but surely become a successful association.
During the press conference, Gukesh, seated within handshaking distance of Liren, said Gajewski has had a big influence 'on my chess and life'. "We started working together around 2022 December when we were preparing for Wijk aan Zee," Gukesh said. "Had nice experiences together. I really enjoyed working with him. I was a very narrow minded chess player and he opened me. I improved a lot on my openings. Apart from my parents, he's the most important person in my life right now."
It wasn't hyperbole; Gukesh, an introvert, isn't known for hyperbole.
Completely by design, Gajewski is also the only known second ahead of the final (both players, as is common, preferred to not reveal the identity of the rest of thei camp).
But how did the 39-year-old Gajewski become such a central figure in the 18-year-old's still nascent career?
The Pole picks up the story. "The first time I met him was at the World Rapid Championship in 2019 when he beat me at the age of 13 (smiles)," he said after the press conference. "Obviously, the impression I had then was he was very talented."
But, remember, talent within the context of India's chess factory counts for something but it isn't the entire thing. What Gukesh has in abundance isn't just talent but a willingness to marry talent with non-negotiables like work ethic, hard work and not afraid of challenging the likes of Gajewski. These are traits that made the Pole go exclusive.
"We started working together, online, as part of WACA," he said. "There wasn't just Gukesh but a lot of other kids from India... Nihal (Sarin), Arjun (Erigaisi), (R) Praggnanandhaa... there was just way too much talent in one room. It was difficult to say who was the most talented but they were all very talented."
It kind of helped Gukesh that Gajewski has played multiple roles under the umbrella term of 'coach'. The Pole has spoken to him about a lot of things but he has always had to be conscious about what to say and what to skip. "You have to choose your words carefully," he said. "On the one hand, you are talking to a very young person. On the other hand, you are talking to a very strong player and also a very intelligent person. You can't say what you want to say. We talk about sport, we talk about the mental aspect of chess and also some normal stuff."
While the relationship is that of a teacher and a student, it's more representative of a student who is more than happy to challenge authority. "He has no problems disagreeing, not just with me but in general. Whenever he believes in not right, he says and we discuss. He puts it in a nice way but he says."
At a time when Gajewski had the option of working with lots of uber-talented Indian kids, why did he eschew that option to go exclusive? "It's a dream for every coach to this one kid who has a dream of becoming world champion," he said. "He made this decision of (fighting for the World Championship) a long time ago and is eager to do what it takes to fulfill it."