 "File image of Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh. Image credit: Michal Walusza/FIDE")
A little over a month after playing a starring role in helping the nation win a historic gold in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh sets his sights on the biggest challenge of his career so far – the World Championship showdown against China’s Ding Liren in Singapore in November.
When asked to predict the winner of that battle, reigning world No 1 Magnus Carlsen felt Gukesh held a “significant advantage” over Ding, who had defeated Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi last year to become the first ever chess world champion from China.
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Carlsen, however, added that Gukesh’s defeat Russian grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin at the European Club Cup earlier this month, the 18-year-old’s first in 38 games in the Classical format, would give Ding some confidence ahead of his title defence.
“Gukesh has been quite vulnerable in some games. At the Olympiad he was, well, not vulnerable. He was dominant. Obviously, Gukesh is a significant favourite. This is one of those matches where if Gukesh strikes first, he will win the match without any trouble.
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“But the longer it goes without a first decisive game, the better it is for Ding. He has the ability. But he doesn’t have the confidence. Anything that can potentially give him that confidence could help him win that match,” Carlsen told ChessBase India.
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If he defeats Ding in the grand showdown next month, Gukesh will not only become the second Indian to achieve the feat after the legendary Viswanathan Anand, a six-time chess world champion who had been dethroned by Carlsen in 2013, he also become the youngest ever in the sport’s history.
In order to prepare for what will be the biggest challenge of his career so far, Gukesh has decided to hire the services of renowned South African mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton .
Upton had helped the MS Dhoni-led Indian cricket team win the ICC World Cup in 2011 and the Indian men’s hockey team win a second consecutive Olympic bronze in Paris in August.