CHENNAI: Late on Wednesday, Anish Giri shared a meme on X (formerly Twitter). It was of a dog drinking tea while the place was on fire. "This is fine," were the thoughts of the dog. Giri had legitimate reasons to be worried. D Gukesh, a direct rival to qualify for the Candidates via the Circuit, was a draw away from winning the Chennai Grand Masters meet.
On Thursday, the 17-year-old, who had been under the pump since losing to Magnus Carlsen in the World Cup in August, produced what was necessary. In the process, he put himself in with a good chance of qualifying for the elite eight-player event that will identify the challenger for the next World Championships (Giri has to have an outstanding World Rapid and Blitz while Arjun Erigaisi needs to have a generational event if they have designs on leapfrogging Gukesh as Circuit leader).
After his draw against P Harikrishna, Gukesh was rather intimate with what he was going through since that quarterfinal loss against Carlsen. "After the World Cup, things went horribly wrong," Gukesh, who was mobbed by kids half his age and adults twice his age after winning the tournament, explained. "I wasn't in a good mental space. It was a new thing for me to handle, the expectation of the Candidates. Till London, I had bad results. I was also very frustrated because I wasn't able to play anywhere close to my level. Finally, I'm happy that this Chennai tournament went very well. Good to have an impression of what it's like to play like myself.
(Photo | D Sampathkumar)"I was more affected by the Candidates pressure. I was trying very hard for sure after the World Cup. I had a couple of bad events and I wasn't in a good mood but I was still pushing. Things didn't go well." For the record, Gukesh and Erigaisi finished joint top in terms of points but the former pipped the latter thanks to a superior Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break variable (13.75 compared to Erigaisi's 13.50). It's a neat end to what had been a harrowing couple of months on the board for the teenager who had made national headlines in August. At the World Cup, he became the first Indian to overhaul Viswanathan Anand's Classical ELO mark in over 35 years. Even if he had not considered that a goal, it was a significant pit-stop. The slide began soon after. Since Baku, he had played in Dusseldorf, Kolkata, Berlin, Hangzhou, Doha and Douglas before the London Classic.
The loss of form was driving him so mad -- "frustrated" was the word he used -- he had 'almost given up hope' of qualifying for the Candidates in this cycle. So much so that he thought long and hard about giving London a miss. A few blunders cost him the tournament in London and he was back to square one. This time, he was caught in two minds about playing in Chennai.
That's where coach Vishnu Prasanna came into the picture. After the meet in Douglas, they had a couple of sessions where they decided to strip back his game to the basics. Prasanna asked him to forget about the Candidates and focus on just playing good chess. "I have known him since he was a little kid," Prasanna said. "We have discussed everything and seen his arc completely. I can be honest with him. (About) last few months, I would say is 'we both knew something was really wrong. We just wanted to go back to the original state, forget about qualification. It's obviously not easy to do that... the focus was on just playing well."
Gukesh, who frequently watches documentaries of great personalities as a means to pick up a few things (the latest he watched was that of a US ultra-marathoner, Courtney Dauwalter), picks up the story. "This phase is probably where I have felt at my lowest. After Grand Swiss, I had a 20-day break before London. We (Prasanna and him) spoke and it surely helped me." He also name-checked Grzegorz Gazewski (he will be one of his seconds if and when Gukesh qualifies for the Candidates). "We have been in touch every day. He also believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. In his tournament, he used to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and work for me, prepare something for me. He has been a huge support for me. I'm grateful for all the trainers."
By coincidence, Giri was roped in as a commentator for the event in Chennai. For the first six days, the Dutch GM used to connect remotely. On Thursday, he was conspicuous by his absence.
Final leaderboard: T1*. D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi (4.5 out of 7), T3* P Harikrishna and Pavel Eljanov (4), T5* Levon Aronian and Parham Maghsoodloo, 7. Sanan Sjugirov (2.5), 8. Aleksandr Predke 1.5
Note: *Gukesh, Harikrishna and Aronian have superior TB scores so they finish 1, 3 and 5.
