The myths around Gukesh

 The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is back with the second leg in Paris amidst possibly the strongest field so far in freestyle OTB tournaments.

All eyes were on the recently crowned World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. However, he was knocked out in the rapid round robin that determined the top 8 moving onto the next classical time control round of freestyle: Gukesh's favourite time control. This has led to a fair amount of criticism on social media by fans who are questioning his credentials as a world champion.

                                Gukesh after winning the World Championship in Singapore 

Touted by chess experts and legends like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura as a precise calculator, he has been called out for his apparent "lack" of intuition in chess. For people who are wondering what is the difference between the two, calculation is a skill that determines how many lines consisting of several moves you can calculate from the current position. At times you have to calculate many lines as your opponent might have multiple response moves to your move. A precise calculator like Gukesh has reveled in this aspect. Intuition is more about "knowing" where to put the pieces without relying too much on calculation, sort of having a hunch about the best possible move. Therefore, faster time controls like rapid and blitz demand a good sense of intuition because it is simply not possible to calculate deep variations in these formats. 

 I feel shocked by this criticism because it is very natural for a youngster like Gukesh to have exceptional calculation skills and a developing intuition. You develop great intuition like Magnus or Anand with experience. It is very natural for a young player to be a great calculator early on in his career and then develop a strong intuition alongside. His fellow peers like Nodirbek, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa are also strong calculators. Alireza Firouza is an exception to this because his sense of intuition is probably the best amongst all his peers. However, when compared to veterans like Caruana, Hikaru and Magnus, their intuition is still not as good as them. However, let us not forget that Fabiano Caruana was very similar to Gukesh when he broke through the ranks with incredible performances like Sinquefield Cup 2014. He was known for his exceptional preparation and calculation in classical chess and relatively weaker ability in rapid and blitz. However, he himself admitted that how better he has become with age in faster time formats. So I have tried to include some myths about Gukesh and tried to bust them as well.

Myth 1: Gukesh depends a lot of opening preparation and memorization

Gukesh was never someone known for his opening preparation. He was best known for creating chaos in the middle game and winning complex positions with his incredible calculation skills. Middlegame has always been his stronger suite and only after turning into an elite player in 2023 after getting invites to super tournaments like Norway Chess, Tata Steel and Grand Chess Tour did he put a lot of focus on his opening repertoire. 

As for memorization, every chess player has a very good memory. To be an elite player, you have to be good at memorizing lines and different games. Not only Gukesh but everyone depends on memorization!

Myth 2: Gukesh has no achievements in faster time controls like rapid and blitz

In Norway Chess 2023, Gukesh won 5 out of 6 armageddons against Fabi, Anish, Nodirbek, Mamedyarov and Wesely with only one loss to Magnus. He finished third(14.5/27) behind Fabi(16/27) and Hikaru(16.5/27).

In Aimchess Rapid 2022 Gukesh finished in second place a point below Duda in a field of top players like Magnus, Anish, Nodirbek, Vincent, Arjun etc.

He won the Junior Speed Chess Championship held by chess.com in 2023.

Post 2023, he focused a lot on classical chess trying to qualify for the candidates. Having completed his candidates-world champion quest, I am sure that in rapid and blitz, we are going to see Gukesh coming back with strong performances this year as he will look to play a lot more rapid and blitz tournaments.

Myth 3: Gukesh is not a deserving World Champion

I would normally laugh off such statements but people who are of the opinion that Gukesh is not a strong champ, just look at his achievements till the age of 18:

 2 time joint Tata Steel Chess winner in 2024 and 2025(in classical portion), winning the Candidates tournament at 17, double Olympiad gold medal medalist with record performance at board one (check his TPR in 2022 and 2024) and so many great performances at super tournaments like GCT and WR Chess Masters all in the span of 2-3 years!

It is scary how good someone can be at 18 and yet be criticized for being the world champion just because of some below par performances at freestyle chess. We do not know the future of Freestyle Chess but one thing is for sure: Gukesh is here to stay and dominate. He is extremely hungry and ambitious and most importantly self-aware and down to Earth. Qualities like these are hard to find in sporting icons today but Gukesh will surely take the flag of Indian chess and World chess high with his moves on the board and demeanor off the board.  

Yes Gukesh has himself admitted that he needs to work on rapid and blitz and I have no doubt that he is going to rule the world of chess for the next decade. It all comes down to self-awareness and who wants it the most at the elite level as the players basically are of a similar level at the top. Gukesh ticks all these boxes and loves delivering under pressure. So we should just wait and watch him do his thing as tournaments like Norway Chess and GCT Romania come up in May.