 "D Gukesh on mixed run since becoming youngest world champion: 'You can’t win everything'")
Gukesh Dommaraju has had a mixed run since being crowned the youngest world champion in Singapore in December. The 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster was the runner-up at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands after losing to compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in tie-breaks . Gukesh, however, had a forgettable time in Weissenhaus, Germany where he finished 8th out of 10 competitors in the opening event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.
Reflecting on his performance since defeating Chinese GM Ding Liren to become the youngest world champion in the history of the sport, Gukesh admitted that he “can’t win everything”.
“You can’t win everything. I will look at them objectively and see where I can improve,” Gukesh told Sportstar.
Freestyle Chess ‘an interesting format’, says Gukesh
Gukesh had entered the Freestyle Chess event at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort as one of the favourites given his status as world champion.
The Chennai native, however, failed to win a single game throughout the event – suffering a 0-2 loss against Fabiano Caruana in the quarter-finals before losing his 5th-8th classification matches against Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja.
Gukesh had also lost to world No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the round-robin stage, facing the Norwegian GM for the first time in any format since becoming world champion. Carlsen would later finish third after losing his semi-final meeting with eventual champion Vincent Keymer.
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When it came to the Freestyle format, Gukesh described it as “interesting” while looking forward to an improved performance in the second event – which takes place in Paris in April, where he will be joined by compatriots Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi.
“It’s an interesting format. I am looking forward to playing the next freestyle event in Paris from April 8 to 15,” Gukesh added.
Gukesh also looked forward to facing Carlsen in the Norway Chess event later this year, in which the world No 3 will be facing the top-ranked player in the Classical format for the first time since their quarter-final meeting in the 2023 FIDE World Cup.
“It will be, no doubt, a great learning experience playing Magnus. I am looking forward to playing my best,” he added.
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