Gukesh tries to be objective, which is not very usual for Indian chess players: Grzegorz Gajewski Premium

Grzegorz Gajewski, coach of youngest World chess champion D. Gukesh, shares insights on his coaching journey and strategies.

Grzegorz Gajewski commands respect as a coach. Talk to him for a few minutes, you will learn why — if you don’t want to go by his stellar record alone. He comes across as a highly intelligent, insightful coach who knows what it takes to produce a World champion. He has, in fact, done just that. His ward D. Gukesh, at 18, became the youngest World chess champion recently. The Hindu caught up with the Polish Grandmaster, who has also worked with Gukesh’s mentor Viswanathan Anand, for a lengthy interview at Sentosa, the small island off the southern coast of mainland Singapore that hosted the World Championship. Excerpts:

Which factors, do you think, have helped Gukesh win the title?

He was not at his best here chess-wise, and he has been facing so many difficulties. In the end, he was able to find a way to overcome them. Another thing is his incredible will to beat the opponent. For three weeks, people were scratching their heads thinking what is he doing, why is he pushing every position for a win? The good one, the bad one — in every position he just keeps playing. And then in the final game, he exhausted Ding and made him miss a simple resource. Gukesh just got rewarded for his incredible ambition.

Are you surprised by the speed with which Gukesh stormed to the World title?

I remember the first time we had a serious discussion was last year during the Stavanger Norway Chess, our first tournament together. He told me he would like to be in the top 10 by the end of the year. Back then I had started reading a lot of sports psychology. I got really into that because I realised that these things actually matter. So I kept convincing him not to think about those things. Just focus on the process. The result is only the outcome. I was telling him to take this pressure off because he is so ambitious. He was in the top 10 in two months.

When Gukesh got off to a bad start here, losing the first game, that too with white pieces, were you concerned?

Losing the first game is not easy, but it is not the end of the world. In a sense, it is good to get this warning sign right away. So many people were saying Ding is not the player he used to be, you are going to crush him. And you have to fight those thoughts. Starting with a loss makes it easier. Because you quickly realise he may be weaker, he may be out of form; I don’t know yet, but I know for sure he is dangerous, he can beat me in any situation. So I need to stay alert.