Oslo: Gregorz Gajewski believes that the barrage of criticism directed at reigning world champion Gukesh in recent months by some of chess’s biggest names stems from ego and frustration at the young Indian outperforming them.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov said that he hopes challenger Javokhir Sindarov defeats Gukesh in a result that could tempt Magnus Carlsen to return the World Championship cycle. Another former world champion Anatoly Karpov has called Gukesh’s World Championship win an “accident”, world No 1 Magnus Carlsen has picked Sindarov as the favourite, describing Gukesh as having “obvious weaknesses”. Two-time challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi went even further, saying, ‘nearly every top GM would have a very good chance in a match against Gukesh.’
“They are all great players,” Gukesh’s coach Gajewski told HT in a chat. “They have egos and he’s a young kid who has in a way, outperformed all of them. I don’t make any claims that he’s better than any of them but he did achieve something they never achieved. I get that Garry must be angry that his record was broken. I think the game is just changing. I also feel for Nepo. He was so close to becoming the world champion and he’s been working so hard for so many years to get there. And then these kids just come and take it.”
He added: “The first time Guki gets a chance to play the Candidates, he won the tournament right away. Then he became the world champion right away, beating Ding, who Nepo was not able to overcome, even though Ding was in much worse form back then. Then Sindarov comes and he crushes the Candidates like it’s a piece of cake. So, I get where they’re coming from. But you just have to make peace with reality.”
The attention and expectations that followed his world title, have been hard for the 19-year-old to handle. His form took a dip and he dropped in the ratings. His match against Sindarov is in just about six months’ time and Gajewski and Gukesh are in preparation mode – they’ve put their team together and have held training camps.
“The key is to mix things up, keep the training interesting,” Gajewski pointed out. “Last year hasn’t been easy. But Gukesh is motivated. It’s been a lot to handle after he became world champion. It was maybe even harder than winning the title.”
In the 2024 World Championship match, Gajewski believed Ding – who was written off, was in a much better shape than even Gukesh, chess-wise. “He was sharp and in very good form, even better than Guki maybe. Certainly, in much better shape than he was in his match against Nepo. But he struggled mentally I felt most of his mistakes were caused by a lack of confidence.”
This time, it’s going to be a battle between two 20-year-olds in the match, one that Gajewski ventured is likely to be “super challenging, super fun, with a lot of fighting games as well as mistakes that will get people talking.”
Calling Sindarov’s mentality his biggest strength, the Pole, who earlier served as five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand’s second said: “That’s what makes him dangerous…Looking at his earlier games, preparation was never his strongest suit. Obviously, he caught up a lot before the Candidates, and he’s done his homework. It’s obviously important, but it’s not critical.”
“Gukesh won the world title once and he can win it again. He can also lose. I mean, this is sport. It’s not something that you grab, and hold on to forever. Obviously, it would be nice to win and keep winning for as long as possible, but we try not to make it the ultimate goal.”
At the Norway Chess, the Gukesh-Carlsen battle is an anticipated one. It brought the drama last year with the table slam. In ambition, both players aren’t quite alike, Gajewski believes. “When you say ambition, you see Magnus. He’s so hungry for success. Guki is a bit different. He is of course ambitious, but maybe not as openly. Last year, Magnus was pissed after his defeat against Guki because he outplayed him in his typical style and then went on to lose anyway. It was also right after Guki had won the world title so everyone was debating whether Magnus’ reign was coming to an end. He perhaps felt like he had to prove himself. It mattered to Guki too. To be fair, it matters to anybody who gets to play Magnus.”
The biggest job Gajewski has now is getting his player to stop a feisty fellow 20-year-old who qualified for the match by blowing away the Candidates field with a record-breaking score.
“Sindarov is sharp, confident, practical and really impressive. That’s what makes him a tough opponent. It’s a challenge. And we like challenges.”
