‘D Gukesh doesn’t particularly need to prove anything to anyone’: Indian GM brutally silences World Championship critics

The pressure has been mounting on D Gukesh after another poor Freestyle Chess showing at the the Paris Grand Slam event, as he failed to even qualify for the knockouts. It comes after his winless run in Weissenhaus, where he managed to finish in eighth place and was at least in the knockouts. The 18-year-old is the reigning World Chess Champion after beating Ding Liren in Singapore last year, and is also the youngest in history to bag the title.

But the manner of his victory over Liren saw Gukesh receive criticism from the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik, who accused him of lacking quality.

Also Read: ‘MS Dhoni is like an emotion’: D Gukesh recalls ‘watching final shot at the 2011 World Cup when I was 5’

But Gukesh silenced his critics with a strong showing at the Tata Masters in Wijk aan Zee, finishing in second position. His classical chess form has been good, but his introduction to Chess960 has been a disaster. He failed to win a single match at Weissenhaus, and managed to end that streak in Paris.

After his performance in Paris, Gukesh was once again put into the spotlight and this time fell victim to a former Carlsen second, Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, who questioned his ability to hold on to the title.

‘D Gukesh is universally accepted as the world champion and there is no questioning that’

Rushing to Gukesh’s defence, Indian GM Srinath Narayanan had a brutal reply for the likes of Hammer and Carlsen. Speaking to Indian Express, he said, “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.”

“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.”

Srinath also had a word of caution for Gukesh. “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,” he said.

“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 added.

Gukesh will also face Magnus Carlsen in the upcoming Norway Chess, and it will be in the classical format. The tournament is scheduled to begin in May.