Since becoming the world champion in 2024, D Gukesh has been on the receiving end of criticism from active chess players and legends like Garry Kasparov. Kasparov feels that since world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen relinquished the World C'ship title in 2022, he ended the era of classical chess champions.
Gukesh's coach, Grzegorz Gajewski, feels that such criticism hasn't 'affected' him at all. 'I don’t think the comments affected him at all. They have the right to their opinions. It’s your responsibility as a professional chess player, especially of his calibre, to simply focus on your job,' he added.
Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion in chess history. He is also the youngest player to have crossed a FIDE rating of 2750, at the age of 17. He is the third-youngest to have reached 270 Elo at age 16. He earned his GM title at the age of 12.
Carlsen also feels that the expectations placed on Gukesh are 'unrealistic'. 'The expectations placed on him were unrealistic. In part, he brought it on himself by playing in such strong tournaments, but he played incredibly in the Candidates Tournament and delivered one of the best performances in history at the Olympiad, leading India to gold,' he said.
