Gukesh will never be a player like Magnus Carlsen, but…: Indian Grandmaster’s chief trainer gives blunt verdict

Gukesh will ‘never be a player like Magnus Carlsen’, the Indian grandmaster’s chief trainer Grzegorz Gajewski said after the 18 year old won the world chess championship. D Gukesh’s win against Ding Liren in Singapore was historic as the 18-year-old became the youngest-ever world chess champion.

Chess prodigy D Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest-ever world chess champion at just 18 years old. He achieved this remarkable feat by defeating reigning champion Ding Liren of China in a thrilling final match held in Singapore, concluding with a score of 7.5-6.5. 

Gukesh’s victory not only marks him as the second Indian to claim the World Championship title, following the legendary Viswanathan Anand, but also highlights a significant milestone in chess history, as he is four years younger than Garry Kasparov was when he won his first title.

Following Gukesh’s historic win, his chief trainer, Grzegorz Gajewski, shared insights into Gukesh’s playing style with The Hindu, noting that he will “never be a player like Magnus Carlsen in the sense of being an intuitive kind of player.”

Gajewski acknowledged that while Gukesh has the ability to mimic Carlsen’s style, he prefers a more calculated approach to the game. “He likes to calculate and he likes to go deep into position. He doesn’t like to make moves just purely based on intuition,” Gajewski explained.

When asked if Gukesh is one of the best when it comes to calculation in chess, he replied, “Vishy (Anand). In terms of talent for calculation, perhaps no one in the history of the game could match him. But at the same time, he was so fast that sometimes it became his weakness. Gukesh somewhat resembles a young Fabiano Caruana.”

Gajewski was a second to Vishwanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship in 2014 in Sochi. He has also worked as Anand’s second in other events too. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, he has taken up a role at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy in India, and has been working with players. Since 2023, he has also been D Gukesh’s second, assisting him at the 2024 Candidates too, which saw him qualify for a title face-off with Liren.