Elite athletes across sport often address the outside noise beyond their inner circle, those questioning voices and murmuring criticisms, as just being, well, noise. They speak of not paying any heed to them or not even hearing them.
But sometimes, they do.
In December last year, D Gukesh had become the youngest world champion in the history of chess, the toast of a country and the new global sensation of his sport. But it came with a rider, and some oft-accompanying questions: Was he indeed the best player in the world? What if Magnus Carlsen was across the table in Singapore instead of Ding Liren? Could the world champion beat the five-time holder of that crown in classical chess?
Noise, plenty of noise. Gukesh and his team, an enclosed circle that is often hard to spot or speak to during this tournament, felt the sound of that noise reverberating across the chess community over the last few months. More so after losing to Carlsen in the opening round here, their first meeting since Gukesh became world champion.
The win that finally broke the duck at his second crack this week would mean a lot more than just a win for Gukesh, felt his coach Grzegorz Gajewski. The confidence for the out-of-form champion could be up and running again, and, more importantly, the noise lowered.
“First of all, he has never beaten Magnus. Secondly, as a world champion, he keeps facing these comments that, ‘Okay, you’re the world champion only because Magnus didn’t play, etc, etc’,” Gajewski, addressing that rider, told a group of journalists here.
“You know, you try not to hear those comments. But then you lose to him (Carlsen), and then you lose to him again, and that’s not a bit pleasant. Now, he beat him. So I hope this is going to give him some credit, and a lot of confidence.”
Gukesh hasn’t shirked away from that noise. Right after winning the World Championships, the Indian teen had referred to Carlsen, the world No.1, as still being the best player. Even before this tournament, he spoke about the “special” clash that the chess world had been waiting for since December.
Carlsen only turning up for classical chess in his home tournament lately means such occasions are rare. And him walking away from defending his world title means the chatter shouldn’t really matter.
“I mean, we try to be objective,” Gajewski said when asked how Gukesh deals with it. “Magnus made his decision. Every sane person admires him as a chess player, and everybody knows how strong he still is. But he doesn’t compete in the World Championships cycle. So then, well, why should we be bothered with that.”
