Gukesh’s success at the World Chess Championship was made possible by a team comprising two Indians, four Poles, a German and a South African. Two of their identities were already known — Viswanathan Anand and Paddy Upton. While Vishy’s role was limited to mentoring, South African Upton looked after the mental wellbeing of Gukesh during the championship. The others were the ‘chess team’ that strategised his success over Ding Liren in the 14-game match in Singapore. In the chess world, they are called the ‘seconds’.
Polish Grandmasters Grzegorz Gajewski, popularly known as Gayu, and Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna, were Gukesh’s seconds in the world championship. Gukesh revealed that his preparation for the event, starting with the qualifying Candidates Tournament in April, had the support of two other Polish GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Jan Klimkowski, and German GM Vincent Keymer.
Polish Grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski was one of the prominent seconds of D Gukesh at the World Chess Championship in Singapore. Photo: X/@FIDE
“Every single one of them worked their backs off, so I can’t thank them enough. This journey, I wouldn’t have been here without them. Thank you so much, guys,” Gukesh thanked his team. “Vishy sir was never officially part of the team, but we all know that he was supporting me, and attended one of the training camps and helped remotely for a few sessions.”
The mental connection
Gukesh was high praises of his mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, who had also worked in a similar capacity to help the Indian men’s cricket team led by MS Dhoni and comprising Sachin Tendulkar lift the 2011 ICC World Cup. “It is really cool that Paddy helped Indian cricket team win the world cup and me win the chess championship,” Gukesh said after the match.
Paddy Upton (right) with Virat Kohli. File photo: PTI
“We started working together around May-June with the help of my sponsor. I just thought I should be in the right mental state for the world championship. The work has been very enjoyable and very instructive,” Gukesh talked about working with Upton.
“We have had many conversations over the months. One of the important things we discussed was how to deal with the uncertainty with regards to my opponent’s form and approach. Although Paddy does not understand chess very well, he understands sports and psychology. Not only the mental part, he helped me plan some workouts to stay in shape.”
Paddy Upton was D Gukesh’s mental conditioning coach at the World Chess Championship in Singapore. Photo: X/@FIDE
Guru without chess gyan
“I have been speaking to him for once a week, for probably six months, just to manage his mind,” Upton told the FIDE broadcast team. “Part of the preparation was to make him ready from Game 1 for the kind of chess he wanted to play and for the mindset he had to be in for the 14 games.”
Upton, who has also worked with the South African cricket team and Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals, said he knows ‘very little about chess’. “Maybe there was 50 hours of chess, but I know nothing about the game,” Upton said. “We speak about how he is managing his mind; how does he recover when he’s made a mistake or how he reacts when he is in a strong position or a defensive position or a weak position. If he hasn’t had a good nigth’s sleep or if he gets distracted by something during the game.”
