CHENNAI: D Gukesh became the youngest-ever world champion in history in Singapore last year, but his achievement has not been acknowledged gleefully by players like Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. Now, Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer has questioned the ability of Gukesh to be the world champion for a longer period.
The main reason for these doubts is Gukesh's poor show during the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Many former players commented that Gukesh did not play like a world champ at the freestyle event. But GM and noted coach Srinath N backed Gukesh to come good in the upcoming tournaments and perhaps go on to defend his crown. "I don't feel any particular attempt to downplay Gukesh as the world champion in general. He is universally accepted as the world champion and there is no questioning that," said Srinath.
"Gukesh doesn't particularly need to prove anything to anyone. I also haven't noticed anyone mentioning that Gukesh won the World championship by luck. As for Gukesh's results in freestyle, I think 1-2 tournaments is far too early to draw any major conclusions," pointed out the India gold-medal winning Chess Olympiad coach.
Hammer, Carlsen's second when he beat Viswanathan Anand to become world champion for the first time in 2013, said he would be happy if Gukesh kept the title for a long time. "Gukesh certainly has the ability to keep the crown. But it will definitely not be easy and his next challenger could very well be one of his compatriots from India or from his age group. Him and his trainers will have the best idea on what he needs to do to improve and defend his title," opined Srinath.
Hammer had also stated that all the top players and Gukesh were on par and that the world crown could keep passing on from one player to another and that it was not good for the sport. Srinath has a different view. "I don't think a competitive rivalry will have any negative effect on the sport. For example, in tennis for a period of time we had Federer (Roger), Nadal (Rafael) and Djokovic (Novak) all closely at the top and the rivalry was brilliant to watch," he noted.
Carlsen had observed that Gukesh was good in classical and poor in rapid and blitz. Srinath is confident on aspects that he needs to work on.
"Again, Gukesh will know best what he needs to do to improve on those aspects. I am sure he is working on it. He is also just 18 years old and will keep getting better as he progresses more towards his personal peak as a player. I don't think he needs to consciously do something like that. I am sure he has a fair amount of rapid and blitz events lined up as part of his usual schedule as GCT by itself has many rapid and blitz events," he explained.
Many also believe that Gukesh will be under pressure till he wins another major tournament, defeating a top-ranked player. Srinath felt Gukesh is not under any sort of pressure. "I don't think he is under any such pressure. Each individual will find their own process based on their personal experience. I am sure Gukesh has his own process and his own trainers to guide him through that. No (change trainers). His strategy will of course be tailored to the particular opponent he will face which we will only know next year," signed off Srinath