Candidates chess tournament: How Gukesh prepared for his bid to become youngest ever World Championship finalist

At the Candidates chess tournament in a few days, India’s Gukesh will become the second youngest player ever to compete at the high-stakes event that is the last hurdle any player must cross before they get to battle in the World Chess Championship. The 17-year-old is just a year older than the legendary Bobby Fischer, who competed at his first Candidates tournament at the age of 16 in 1959. Should Gukesh beat the other seven contenders, he will be the youngest World Championship finalist. Ever.

While a lot of players preparing for the Candidates turn their focus on physical fitness and nutrition to ensure that their physical conditioning does not hinder their mental sharpness on the board during the three-week event, the teenager from India has chosen to do his heavy lifting on the chess board, hiring a team of four to five seconds and trainers for the first time.

“Gukesh’s team is a little bigger this time around. Usually, he used to work with only one coach for any tournament. This time he has a team of his coach and some seconds. They work together. Apart from that, the routine is the same. So the main team is basically four to five people apart from Gukesh,” Gukesh’s father Dr Rajnikanth told The Indian Express last month.

“Gukesh has been focussing on regularising his sleep pattern in the lead up to the Candidates. He sleeps for eight to 10 hours, sleeps early, wakes up earlier. But there hasn’t been too much focus on changing his diet or something. Not too much focus on working out. Main focus away from the board has been on meditation, or something like cycling.”

Since qualifying for the Candidates at the last-minute possible, Gukesh has spent a lot of time in Europe training and playing in a handful of events like the Tata Steel Chess event in Wijk aan Zee, then at Magnus Carlsen’s freestyle chess event at Germany’s Weissenhaus and then at Prague Masters. In the middle he held an “intense” training camp for three to four weeks.

“It was like a full-time job. He would train from morning onwards. This team and he have been training since his Candidates participation was confirmed. For the last three months, the whole time he was only focussed on preparing for the Candidates,” said Gukesh’s father.

In the past few months, Dr Rajnikanth said he has seen Gukesh get more carefree about certain things and instead focus on his chess.

“Gukesh’s always been a very confident player. But now he has learnt to not take the results of the previous game into the next one. He’s stopped worrying about things like tournament standings. That’s new. He doesn’t worry about what else is happening or about things like ratings or FIDE rankings. Doesn’t stress about tournament final positions. That’s a big change.

“For the last six months of 2023, he was worried about getting the Candidates spot. That’s why in two or three tournaments he fumbled and then realised that there was no point worrying about such things. Then he played at the Chennai Grand Masters without much hope of making the cut for the Candidates. And then he sealed his spot (via the FIDE circuit route, by winning the event in December)! He realised when you take your mind away from the target it becomes easier,” said Dr Rajnikanth.

He’s also learnt to take things in his stride. The initial plan for Gukesh — to travel to Canada at least a week in advance — was thrown out of the window because of a delay in issuing visas to the players by the Canadian government.

“Almost from January till early March, Gukesh was in Europe, playing at the three events or training. The initial plan was that we wanted to spend more time in Europe training. And then come to Chennai and spend maybe a week or 10 days here before flying to Canada. But we had to come to India to get our passport stamped due to the visa delay. So we ended up spending more time here in Chennai than initially planned. We wanted to go to Toronto at least one week before the Candidates started, but now we’re reaching on the last possible date, on April 1st. It was quite unfortunate, we had to change training and travel plans. But what to do. It’s the same for all the players, not just for one player,” said Gukesh’s father as he explained what he called the “risky decision” to reach just days before the event started.

How Viswanathan Anand’s inputs helped Gukesh

Helping Gukesh prepare for his toughest challenge till date has been five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand. Not just his inputs that have proved valuable over the years, Anand also got Gukesh land a sponsor — Westbridge Capital — who has picked up the eyewatering tab that comes with hiring a team of four people at the elite level.

“Anand sir has been a big influence right from the pandemic period. Right from the time the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) came into being, he’s been supporting Gukesh. Westbridge Capital has completely taken over sponsorship issues for him. Gukesh is in touch with Anand sir, he calls him whenever he needs some general advice, not just chess tips. He’s been counselling Gukesh on how to be mentally prepared for a tournament of this stature besides breaking down general things like routines, what he should not worry too much about and what he should focus on instead.”

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