Viswanathan Anand believes D Gukesh’s current struggles are a phase that the reigning world champion will have to navigate rather than something that can be solved with a simple formula. Speaking to The Indian Express ahead of the 2026 Global Chess League in Bengaluru, the five time world champion reflected on his own difficult periods in his 20s while discussing the challenges facing Gukesh before his world title defence against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov.
Gukesh will defend his crown in Geneva in less than three months, with the match scheduled against Sindarov, who has emerged as a formidable challenger after winning the Candidates Tournament. The two players are set to make history as the youngest competitors in a World Championship match, both aged 20.
Anand Draws From His Own Experience
Gukesh entered his 2024 World Championship match against Ding Liren in outstanding form. He had won the Candidates Tournament and followed it with a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Ding, meanwhile, had been inactive for months and was struggling for form.
The circumstances are markedly different this time. Gukesh has endured a difficult stretch, while Sindarov has continued to produce impressive results.
Anand, who has won the world title five times, told The Indian Express that he recognised what Gukesh is experiencing because he had gone through similar periods himself.
‘What Gukesh is experiencing, I’ve experienced a couple of times. But he’s experiencing it for the first time. You have no idea why the world refuses to work like it used to. You’re working as hard as you think. You want it as hard as you think. But the world is just not bending like it used to,’ Anand said.
He added: ‘The only thing I could tell him is that it happens to everybody. For him, I think it will just be the challenge of dealing with this rather than it being his first time.’
No Simple Solution To Gukesh’s Struggles
Anand recalled experiencing painful periods when he was 22, 23 and 24. His problems were not as prolonged or intense, but playing different formats gave him opportunities to regain confidence.
‘I had moments of shattering heartbreak a couple of times when I was 22, 23, 24. Not as prolonged, not as intense. But I was also playing a wider variety of tournaments. So inevitably, you’ll get a good result. I was playing rapid tournaments in those days, and those would compensate for everything. Even if I was slumping in classical, I would do well in rapid and feel good about myself again,’ Anand said.
He compared the experience to being thrown into deep water.
‘It doesn’t matter what age you’re dropped into the deep end of the pool. You will learn to swim fast, or you’ll splash around till you reach the surface and find something to hold on to. Maybe I was in a calmer place when I really got into crisis. But I think he can cope.’
Anand also admitted that trying to identify a precise reason for a slump can become counterproductive.
‘What I did was to accept at some point that there’s no point trying to understand what’s happening. We try to understand what’s happening, make cause and effect, organise things. But there comes a point when you feel relieved enough to accept the result. Both when it then turns around, it feels good. But sometimes it doesn’t turn around. That’s how it is.’
He added: ‘I don’t know what I should tell him. The strength is there. It couldn’t have gone away. But something in the state of mind, sadly, we don’t know how to fix that. All of us have discussed motivation enough, but it’s not very easy to explain.’
Gukesh has collected 18 points from 21 matches across the last two Olympiad editions. At Budapest in 2024, he scored 9.0/10 with a performance rating of 3056 and won individual gold. He had also won individual gold at the previous edition, while India claimed team bronze in 2022 before winning gold in the following edition.
Gukesh has not won a tournament since becoming the youngest world champion in history.
Anand believes, however, that Gukesh may not require an entire tournament to change his mood.
‘There’s no pattern as to what makes me happy. Some unexpected gift in a tournament is all I need. Because in my mind, I’m not playing badly. I deserve to. In my mind, the universe is not cooperating. When I get lucky, I think, yeah, finally it is. This is how it should be. Self-deception is what we’re good at. We will find some way of picking our events that’s favourable. That’s where excuses come from too, trying to say that it was not your fault. He could be incredibly happy with one game and that might change his mood. It doesn’t matter. As long as you feel better, that’s all that matters,’ Anand said.
With the Olympiad approaching and the World Championship looming, Gukesh has two major opportunities to reverse his recent fortunes before facing Sindarov in Geneva. The Uzbek challenger, meanwhile, enters the period after a strong run of form and a dominant Candidates Tournament victory.
