Gukesh wins Candidates: 17-year-old and trainer Grzegorz Gajewski reveal what makes him a mentality monster

What goes on inside the mind of a 17-year-old athlete playing in the biggest event of his career yet, where only finishing first matters? Two days after D Gukesh claimed the Candidates title, thus becoming the youngest player to secure a spot at the World Chess Championship, he and his trainer, Grzegorz Gajewski, offered an insight into the mentality that makes the 17-year-old different.

“Even though the game hasn’t started yet, in his mind, he’s already playing it. The preparations are part of the game. He’s fully focussed: analysing different scenarios, not just in terms of openings but also different situations that might occur during the game,” says Polish grandmaster Gajewski, who has also helped other Indian youngsters through the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy and was Viswanathan Anand’s second during his World Championship battles.

“Apart from chess preparations, for Gukesh it’s all about staying in the zone. He has a few routines that help him to get into the zone, to focus before a game. In the previous months, we had to introduce a few routines to allow him to relax. We don’t think staying in the zone, and staying 100 percent focused the whole day, is the best way. You need some moments where you can relax and leave the zone for a couple of hours and get back to the zone,” he added.

In Toronto, one of the only things that didn’t go Gukesh’s way was him not being able to find a tennis court. Tennis is one of the sports he turns to on rest days of competitions: his exit from the zone. So they turned to a new sport: pickleball. “I used to go for short walks outside the hotel. But on rest days we used to go play some physical sport. We tried to book some tennis courts, but they were always occupied. We found pickleball very fun,” admitted Gukesh.

Rinse, repeat

He says he’s had the same in-tournament routine since a young age. While he doesn’t fully reveal what the elements of this routine are, he says: “I have my routines and I stay as strict as possible with them. It just helps to know what you’re doing everyday during tournaments. It’s about having the same kind of routine and then just to be disciplined. Simple things, like meditation and yoga. But doing it repetitively,” Gukesh says, shrugging the question off.

“During the Candidates, the main thing I focussed on was being in the ideal mental state and just playing good chess. I’m extremely happy that I managed to achieve the (mental state I wanted),” says Gukesh.

While Gajewski offers more details about this zone that Gukesh enters in big-ticket competitions, the Polish GM calls Gukesh a 17-year-old unlike any other he’s seen in the sport. “The zone is something that, when you’re fully in it, you’re very calm, objective. Being able to make the best decision possible under the circumstances. For all that to really work, it takes quite some practice. You see many players that collapse in different situations. They’re well-prepared. They play a very good game. But at some point they just collapse, for unclear reasons. So being in the zone is a very difficult thing to achieve. But for the moment, we have managed to achieve that.

Gukesh at a FIDE ceremony after his win at the Candidates chess tournament. (PHOTO: Michal Walusza/FIDE)

“(What stands out about Gukesh is his) maturity. He approaches things in a very serious way. Many adults don’t have this kind of approach. It’s very impressive. Chess-wise, he’s not just super talented but he always wants to learn. Things come quickly to him, but more importantly, he wants them to come. There are many players in the sport who learn things quickly but they’re not eager to learn.”

Chess 24×7

Gajewski says that when Gukesh is at home he spends a lot of time on chess. He wouldn’t put a number of hours on it, but adds: “With these kind of players, even when they don’t work on chess, they’re working because their mind is still somewhere analysing some chess positions. So you could say he’s working 24 hours a day.”

He adds that they have to follow a strict routine of only working on chess for a few hours a day when Gukesh is competing. “We do not prepare for too long, because we’re aware that a lot of energy is required to play the full game at the same level. We prepare for one or two hours a day before the game, and then on the day of the game we prepare for one or two hours again. But even if we have not managed to see something fully before a game, that’s okay. We don’t panic because he’s not a player who needs to fully rely on preparation.”

All these elements contributed to take a 17-year-old unheralded youngster to the Candidates title in his first time of trying.

Did he leave the zone at least afterwards? “I actually saw him smiling,” chuckles Gajewski. “He’s a different kind of person once an event ends. He’s very serious when he’s in the zone. He doesn’t socialise much. He wants to be fully focussed on the event. But once the tournament’s over, the normal, happy, friendly 17-year-old Gukesh comes back.”

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