Bengaluru: Grzegorz Gajewski talks of a “lesson” he learnt a decade ago. Gajewski, who was previously second to five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and is now D Gukesh’s trainer and coach, hasn’t forgotten a searing loss at the Tromsø Olympiad in 2014. The guy who beat him was Ding Liren – who Gukesh will go up against at the World Championship match, beginning on Monday.
Defending world champion Ding has spoken of grappling with his form and mental health, and is happy to be seen as the underdog against the 18-year-old Indian. “That loss was a nice lesson for me, fortunately a short one,” Gajewski tells HT in an interview. “So, I know how well Ding can play and he’s definitely not someone you should underestimate… Even during his World Championship match against (Ian) Nepomniachtchi he was supposedly out of shape, but still won. So, we want to be at our best. All this talk of favourites and predictions is just noise to us.”
Gajewski believes that what Ding has been doing – not trying to hide his mental ordeals, might be a good thing. Especially in a sport where players are discouraged from being expressive. “Ding is just letting it all out…it could be a healthy thing. There is this culture among the chess players not to show emotions. You’re not supposed to celebrate your victory, you’re not supposed to be angry after a loss, you’re supposed to take it all in and just go back to your room. It’s become kind of a problem because the pressure is growing on younger players and the inability to deal with all these emotions is now catching up with them.”
Little over six months ago, Gukesh, then 17, emerged surprise winner at the Candidates. His Polish trainer believes that the teen’s performance since – particularly at the Olympiad – has shown that it was no flash in the pan.
“Gukesh’s mindset is pretty clear,” Gajewski points out, “He wants to be the winner (in the match). Even for the Candidates where he was not considered a favourite, he was clear in his head that he was going there to win it…After the Candidates, you know, it was like, okay, whatever, fantastic performance but people were asking, “Is Gukesh really the one who should be the challenger?” It’s no longer asked. Through his performances he’s shown that it was probably not an accident. We have a very clear plan for the match against Ding. I believe that it’s going to be super difficult and challenging because we have never played a match before.”
To be fair, Gajewski does have some match experience. He was Anand’s second during his 2014 World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen.
“In a match, sometimes it’s difficult to prove that you are the better player,” says Gajewski, “But as difficult as it may be, it is not that you won’t get there. Magnus suffered in some of his matches yet he won all of them. We intend to do the same, ideally without suffering. Of course, in a match the preparation is slightly different. We look for our opponent’s weaknesses and also look at ours so we can anticipate things. Everything is a bit more nuanced than it normally is but we don’t want to make too big a deal of it.”
Pressure, Gajewski believes, will not be a factor for Gukesh. “I’m pretty certain about that,” he says, “We faced the same question before the Candidates as well. We want him to feel the right amount of pressure – not too relaxed nor too stressed. It helps you stay focused. He might feel some nerves in the first game. Other than that, I see him handling it well.” All things said, he believes Gukesh now is “very difficult to beat. To beat him you have to both outplay and out-calculate him.”
Gaju and Guki to each other, Gajewski says that belonging from different parts of the world keeps their partnership interesting. They bond over a shared love for tennis and a round of squash together gets them all the workout they need.
“You travel together for tournaments, and spend so much time with each other, it’s not easy. I sometimes see some coaches and players, relaxed and chatting at the beginning of tournaments, and then suddenly, it’s all quiet at the end. Luckily, we’re not at this point, and I hope, because we won’t get to this point. We still talk at the end of the tournament, even not about the no-so good things…Gukesh is not exactly an open, extroverted kind of guy. He likes to stay in the zone during tournaments. But once he gets to know you, he likes to relax after the games are done.”
A self-confessed lover of Indian food (he picks kadai chicken as one of his favourites), Gajewski prides himself for getting Gukesh to open up to other cuisines. One that took a fair bit of coaxing, he laughs. “We travel to different parts of the world so I wanted him to be flexible… He’s okay with Italian now..I think it’s a good thing that he doesn’t make random changes. They say how you play chess reflects your character. He takes his time but his decisions are usually well thought out. Sometimes it leads to time trouble and, of course, you have to deal with it, but at least he doesn’t make stupid decisions.”