D Gukesh becomes chess world champion: Meet the members of his team who helped Indian GM make history

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh created history on Thursday after he became only the second GM from the country to win the World Chess Championship title. He defeated China's Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to become the youngest-ever world chess champion, at only 18-years-old. Prior to Gukesh, the only other Indian to win the World Chess Championship title was Viswanathan Anand, having done so five times.

Gukesh has had a formidable supporting team backing him throughout the tournament. At the post-match press conference on Thursday, the Chennai teenager revealed his team. His team included Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna, Grzegorz Gajewski, Vincent Keymer, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton.

Also Read |  ‘Gukesh you legend’, wishes pour in after Indian GM clinches historic title in Singapore

Let’s now take a quick look at each of Gukesh’s trainers and their achievements:

More from Sports

Why Novak Djokovic’s tennis calendar is under scrutiny as experts fear he could be left behind Federer ‘Gukesh is an incredibly fighting player. I think it’s adorable’: Caruana’s rare praise for world champion amid horror form

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand needs no introduction. The five-time world champion has been the backbone of Indian chess over the years and continues to support not just Gukesh, but other rising stars like R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and so on. Anand’s current FIDE rating is 2750 as of December 2024 and is ranked 10th. He had achieved a peak rating of 2817 in March 2011. In September 2023, Gukesh replaced Anand as India’s top-ranked chess player after the latter had held it for 37 years and two months.

Congratulations! It's a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India, a proud moment for WACA, and for me, a very personal moment of pride. Ding played a very exciting match and showed the champion he is.@FIDE_chess @WacaChess pic.twitter.com/o3hq26JFPf

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) December 12, 2024

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night 2 results: Cody Rhodes beats John Cena in wild title match

Viswanathan Anand Exclusive | 'Gukesh's journey to winning chess World Championship is remarkable'

“Vishy Sir was never officially a part of the team but we all know he was supporting me. He attended one of the days during the training camp and also helping remotely for a few sessions," Gukesh said at the press conference on Thursday.

Pentala Harikrishna

D Gukesh revealed that Pentala Harikrishna, another Indian GM, has been supporting him right from the 2024 Candidates tournament in April. Harikrishna won the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 2001, the World Junior Championship in 2004 and Asian Chess Championship in 2011.

Sooo Happy to be part of the team #Gukesh 🙏 pic.twitter.com/VWHAAxDQeI

— Harikrishna (@HariChess) December 12, 2024

Harikrishna has represented India in seven Chess Olympiads, and also won bronze at the World Team Chess Championship in 2010. Harikrishna achieved a peak ELO rating of 2770 in December 2016. His current rating is 2695 and is ranked 39th in the world.

Grzegorz Gajewski

Grzegorz Gajewski has trained Gukesh for the past two years. The Polish GM has won multiple tournaments including Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2011 and the Polish Chess Championship in 2015. He was Viswanathan Anand’s “second” (Also known as trainer) during the Indian’s World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen in 2014. He reached his peak rating of 2659 in July 2014, and his current rating is 2547.

Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer is a German chess GM. Keymer joined Gukesh’s team ahead of the World Championship match. The 20-ear-old had attained the No 1 rank in FIDE rankings for juniors in July this year. He was the runner-up of the World Rapid Chess Championship in 2022, after he defeated Fabio Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi. He achieved his peak FIDE rating of 2743 in January this year and currently his rating is 2664.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Jan-Krzysztof Duda is another Polish GM who has supported Gukesh. Gukesh said that Duda was part of his team during the Candidates this year, but more like a “playing partner”. Duda is a winner of the Polish Chess Championship (2018) and the Chess World Cup (2021). Duda recently achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2760 and currently has a rating of 2740.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek

Radosław Wojtaszek is the third Polish GM in Gukesh’s team. Wojtaszek was Viswanathan Anand’s “second” during the latter’s World Championship matches on multiple occasions. Wojtaszek won his first Polish Championship in 2005, and finished second at the same tournament in 2009. He went onto win five more Polish Championship titles between 2014 and 2024. The 37-year-old achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2750 in January 2017 and has a current rating of 2658.

Paddy Upton

In October this year, Gukesh hired Paddy Upton as his mental conditioning coach. Paddy Upton is a relatively known name in the Indian sports scene, having previously worked with the World Cup-winning Indian cricket team of 2011 as well as the Indian men’s hockey team that won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.