With a month to go for the biggest match of his life, India's Dommaraju Gukesh has been in action, alongside a host of the world's top players, at the European Club Cup. And it's been a mixed bag of a performance.
Having been previously unbeaten at both the Chess Olympiad and the Sinquefield Cup, Gukesh lost for the first time in 38 classical matches, when against GM Dmitry Andreikin he made a couple of poor decisions that tilted a rook endgame against him and in favour of Andreikin.
As compatriot Arjun Erigaisi went past the much-touted 2800 live ratings, Gukesh's is now down to 2788 following the loss to Andreikin. He followed up the loss to Andreikin with a draw against Jergus Pechac with white pieces.
He began with wins over Margeir Petursson and David Gorodetzky, but has now gone three games without a win, with the loss to Andreikin sandwiched between draws against Rauf Mamedov and Pechac.
Is the mixed form a concern?
Not really. Typically, world championship contenders don't even play competitive games just a month off the big event. But Gukesh has said that he's striving for a balance between his preparations and playing in tournaments.
"You can't be playing a crazy amount of tournaments before the match. It has been done before, but it doesn't make sense to completely stop playing tournaments before the match. As long as there is a balance, I feel good about what I'm doing," he said in an interview to Chess.com.
Gukesh further went on to say that his young age brought its advantages with it, such as additional energy levels. He pointed to just enjoying the whole cycle - from the preparation for the Candidates tournament earlier this year to the World Championships.
"The process is pretty much typical for the world championships. I have a team and we are preparing hard. I'm trying to just be at my best for the world championship and I'm just trying to enjoy each moment of this journey," he said.
Has Ding played recently?
Not since the Olympiad in Budapest last month. He had a fairly rough time there too, in line with the year he has had since becoming world champion by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year.
Gukesh, though, downplayed any suggestions that he would go into the match as the favourite, while also saying that the differences between any two players at that level wouldn't be significant. "It'll be an interesting match for sure. We are both strong players," he said. "There'll be a lot of exciting games. I'm really looking forward to it as a player and chess fan. I hope it's a beautiful experience for all chess lovers."
"I think Ding is quite universal. Almost all the players at the top level have to be universal at this point. So there are minute differences between all the players, and I'm trying my best to analyze them and use them to my advantage," Gukesh said.
Who is in Gukesh's team?
Typically, he has been tightlipped about the exact members working with him in preparation for the World Championship, but confirmed that GM Grzegorz Gajewski, who was his second during the Candidates tournament, will once again be in his corner. Incidentally, Gajewski was also in Anand's corner when he took on Magnus Carlsen in the world championship match in Sochi in 2014.
����@DGukesh pic.twitter.com/AX3KrnERiv
- Grzegorz Gajewski (@GajuChess) June 10, 2023
His team is likely to consist of at least a couple of more Grandmasters, whose job it is to analyse and devise plans for Gukesh to employ during the World Championships. The role of the seconds is essentially to find a competitive advantage for their player, whether it be a tweak to a well-known line or a completely fresh line to catch their opponents off-guard.
Perhaps, calming Gukesh down in the face of such big pressure in the biggest match of his life will also be one of Gajewski's major tasks, just as he did at the Candidates tournament earlier this year.
"These young players are super ambitious. They want to crush everyone and show the world how strong they are. But a tournament like this needs patience. You have to be calm," he told the Hindustan Times back then.
So then, he's had a couple of rocky games after a manic high at the Olympiad, but it's nothing that Gukesh hasn't dealt with at the Candidates tournament. He's still on course with his preparations for life's biggest month, which is now a month way.