Gukesh’s coach on how he can improve as champion exits FIDE World Cup: 'Some elements that he needs to work on'

D Gukesh’s tough year continued on Saturday as the reigning World Chess Champion suffered an early exit from the ongoing FIDE World Cup in Goa. The 19-year-old Indian prodigy was beaten by German Grandmaster Frederik Svane in the third round, losing the second Classical game in 55 moves after drawing the first.

It was Gukesh’s first major home tournament since becoming the youngest world champion in history late last year. Fans were hoping the Chennai youngster would go deep in the event, but things didn’t go his way as Svane proved too strong on the day, ending Gukesh’s campaign with a 1.5-0.5 result.

Gukesh’s coach on how he can improve

Speaking to The Indian Express a day before his elimination, Gukesh’s coach Grzegorz Gajewski said that the youngster needs to find new goals to stay motivated after achieving the World Championship title. Gajewski believes others are working hard to beat Gukesh, and winning every tournament is not going to be easy.

“It’s very typical for anyone who has been working their whole life to achieve something and then they finally achieve it. It puts you in a difficult situation because you have to come up with new objectives, new ways to motivate yourself. It’s kind of a transitional period for Gukesh,” Gajewski said.

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“We should not forget he’s very young and the competition is very strong. It’s not like by winning the title, he got the monopoly on winning all the games he plays. It’s a very competitive sport and all the others are working very hard to beat him. There were some ups, there were some downs. Mentally and physically and just sports-wise, I think we’re kind of getting back on the track. And hopefully the ECC was the first sign of Gukesh coming back to his best form,” he added.

Gajewski also said that Gukesh must “work on some elements” to further improve his game. The Polish chess player added that while Gukesh’s aggressive style remains his strength, he needs to improve his ability to grind out tough games, just like he did in the second round of the World Cup.

“There are some elements that he needs to work on. He’s well known for his aggressive style of chess. The grinding part of his style is not that common. But we have already seen an example of that two days back (in the second round of the World Cup). We don’t mean to change his style, just add new elements to it. Because in modern chess, you don’t always control what kind of position you’re going to get. Of course, we have to be as flexible as possible,” he said.

Since becoming the world champion in Singapore in December 2024, Gukesh has faced many setbacks. He narrowly missed out on winning the Tata Steel Chess title earlier this year, and finished in third place overall in the Norway Chess 2025. Gukesh also suffered a disappointing campaign at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, where he finished in 41st place.

However, Gukesh showed signs of some improvement at the European Club Cup in Greece, where he won an individual gold medal on Board 1 while helping his team SuperChess claim the championship. He also won the rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb.