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Adjusting to the perils of being a World Champion has led to a ‘transition’ phase in D Gukesh’s career, resulting in a big slump in form in 2025, according to his long-time coach Grzegorz Gajewski. After a dream 2024 where he became World Champion and led India to Chess Olympiad gold, Gukesh’s 2025 has been turbulent at best. Despite a strong start at Tata Steel, a final-day loss to Arjun Erigaisi and defeat to Praggnanandhaa in tiebreaks became early signs of trouble. Some relief came via Norway Chess, where he defeated both Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen. But a poor 41st-place finish at the Grand Swiss and a third-round elimination at the World Cup brought worries of inconsistency again. Gukesh hasn’t needed to play in most of the tournaments he has this season, including the World Cup, but he has been pushing himself, keeping himself prepared in all formats. “I don’t believe he’s playing so much more,” Gajewski told The Indian Express. “Earlier, too, he was playing a lot, and he was playing many open tournaments. Obviously, open tournaments are not as attractive for him as they used to be. That partially explains the shift. Second, he is getting invites from everywhere. Like the Grand Chess Tour, which is a very attractive tour. Part of the Grand Chess Tour is the rapid and blitz section. There’s no way around that. Yes, we are trying to improve in all possible formats. This is not a shift; it’s just catching up. The ability to play when low on time is part of the classical game as well. So by improving his rapid and blitz skills, I believe we can also improve the classical as well. Of course, classical chess remains the priority.” Gajewski doesn’t think the extra travel or the fame is an issue, but mentioned they’re adding flexibility to his aggressive style, tuning it to the realities of modern chess. He also agreed that since becoming the World Champion, his opponents are taking fewer risks against him and are giving him more respect. “I think it’s great. Definitely, certain opponents play differently now against him than they used to. I wouldn’t say they make him a target. He gets more respect from them. This makes them play more responsibly. When he was younger and lower rated, chances kept coming at him because higher-rated players were willing to take risks. Now I don’t think there’s a player who is willing to take risks against Gukesh. So sometimes he’s the one who has to take risks. And of course he does that. And sometimes you pay the price,” he said.
