D Gukesh did not have the best of 2025 where he tried hands at various rapid and blitz competitions as well. However, with the World Championship defence coming up late this year, he will be cutting down on some of those tournaments in 2026.
Grzegorz Gajewski, the coach of the reigning world champion D Gukesh, believes that playing more is the best way to grow for the 19-year-old. However, he has revealed that the world champion will be stepping away from a few tournaments this year as he prepares to defend his title which will be on the line in late 2026.
After becoming the
youngest world champion in chess history in 2024, Gukesh featured in a lot of rapid and blitz events last year with an aim to improve his game in these time controls. Even though he had a tough 2025, the world champion still managed to do add to his rapid and blitz ratings. However, this year with the World Championship scheduled towards the end, the focus is expected to be back on classical chess.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Gajewski said that Gukesh will be scaling back on his participation but he will remain active.
“For sure, we won’t be playing too many events. We will play in the most important ones… We will have to scale back for sure. Some of the exhibition matches, online events, we will have to skip, that’s certain,” he told the publication.
18th @ 18! pic.twitter.com/krXbIfewo0
— Gukesh D (@DGukesh) December 13, 2024
Growing up adding challenge to Gukesh’s career, reveals his coach
Gukesh was earmarked as a prodigy in his early days and turned his potential into performance by becoming the world champion at just 18. He also played Board 1 in India’s Olympiad winning campaign in 2024.
While Gukesh is evolving as a person with age, it is also adding another challenge to his game.
“He is not a kid anymore, which means he is aware of many, many things that previously were not so obvious. In a way, this makes it a bit trickier for him, because when you are a kid, you don’t care. The mindset is different.
“Because when you’re a child, you cry a little, and then you move on. Here, I think the pressure is just more difficult. For sure, it was not so easy last year. But, once you find the way to manage those things, it’s like another step forward,” the coach said.
He also added that no one in history as young as
Gukesh has faced as much pressure and that makes things harder for him than his opponents.
“He is the youngest world champion ever, so he is the first one in history to experience
this kind of pressure that early in life. This is, of course, challenging, but I think there is no other way. We just have to adjust,” he said.
‘Faster time controls not priority’
Gajewski also revealed that while Gukesh was hoping for more improvement in his rapid and blitz ratings, that does not remain the priority now.
“There is for sure some progress. It’s obviously also reflected in the rating list, where slowly his rating is improving. We were hoping for more, but that’s not a priority. At the moment, especially since 2026 is the world championship match year, our minds are completely elsewhere,” he said.
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