Gukesh's coach says talk of being favourite for World Chess Championship match against Ding Liren 'just noise'

Ahead of D Gukesh’s World Chess Championship showdown against China’s Ding Liren, his trainer and coach Grzegorz Gajewski has played down talk of the Indian Grandmaster being a runaway favourite for the upcoming showdown in Singapore as “noise”. The Polish GM added Ding cannot underestimated as a player despite his poor run this year, as he was also supposedly an underdog in last year’s World Championship showdown against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, only to emerge victorious .

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Gajewski recounted his own defeat at the hands of Ding at the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromso while discussing the challenge that the Chinese GM poses to Gukesh.

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“That loss was a nice lesson for me, fortunately a short one. So, I know how well Ding can play and he’s definitely not someone you should underestimate… Even during his World Championship match against (Ian) Nepomniachtchi he was supposedly out of shape, but still won.

“So, we want to be at our best. All this talk of favourites and predictions is just noise to us,” said the 39-year-old.

Ding had recently opened up on his poor run in 2024, having not won a game in the Classical format since January, admitting that he was an underdog heading into the battle against Gukesh. Ding further added that he was worried about surrendering the world championship crown to the 18-year-old Indian GM – the youngest challenger for the title.

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Gajewski, meanwhile, added that Gukesh – who had won the Candidates Tournament in April and starred in India's golden sweep at the Chess Olympiad in September – has a clean plan and mindset for the “super difficult” match against Ding.

“Gukesh’s mindset is pretty clear,” Gajewski points out, “He wants to be the winner (in the match). Even for the Candidates where he was not considered a favourite, he was clear in his head that he was going there to win it.

“We have a very clear plan for the match against Ding. I believe that it’s going to be super difficult and challenging because we have never played a match before,” added Gajeswki, who was second to Viswanathan Anand during his 2014 World Championship showdown against current No 1 Magnus Carlsen.