D. Gukesh, the 18th and youngest world chess champion, said he will not participate in the FIDE World Rapid Chess and Blitz Championship scheduled to be held in New York later this month.
The 18-year-old confirmed he had been excluded from the end-of-year events during a ceremony celebrating the Velammal Nexus on Monday.
Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren to become the latest in an elite list of world champions.
The Chennai general manager also heaped praises on his Seconds team, which helped him in training throughout the tournament.
“They work so hard for me. It’s even harder for them because they stay up late, pull all-nighters to help me prepare for the next game. It’s very special,” he said.
READ | World chess champion Gukesh receives hero’s welcome in chaos and hysteria in Chennai
Gukš joined his long-time coach Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland and three other Polish players, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan. With Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Jan Klimkowski. Gukesh’s training team also includes his fellow Olympic gold medalist Pentala Harikrishna and his contemporary German No. 1 Vincent Keymer.
Gajewski is also the second Indian under Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion who played a major role in Gukesh’s success.
” gay (Gajewski) has had tremendous support over the past two years. He has been my chess coach. He has done many things for me. Paddy (Upton) made sure I was emotionally, physically and mentally ready for this huge challenge. I want to thank both of them,” he said.
Gukesh, with the help of renowned mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, strengthened his mentality ahead of the championship game.
“Paddy has been a very important part of my team. Immediately after I won the candidacy, my sponsor Westbridge contacted Paddy for mental training. We started preparing for the World Championships. I learned a lot and enjoyed working with All his dialogues,” Gukesh said.
He added: “I’m very grateful to Paddy. For example, I lost Game 1 and 12, two very important games and it was difficult for me to deal with that in those moments. Paddy and his teachings It really helped me get over those moments.”
Along with former World Cup winner Duda, another runner-up Anand, Wojtaszek and 17-year-old IM Klimkowski alongside Gajewski, Gukš has a team made up of Poles.
Whether that was a conscious, carefully planned decision or just a coincidence, Gukesh said: “It was mostly based on the fact that I felt comfortable with these guys. gay (Grzegorz Gajewski) knows all the Polish players. He has a lot of experience with them. As a team leader, this makes sense. Everyone has their own specialty. We try to get the most out of them.
Gukesh also defended Ding Junhui against accusations by Russian Chess Federation president Andrei Filatov that Chinese players deliberately performed poorly in the championship finals. Ding made a mistake on step 54 and lost his car, effectively ending the championship race in favor of the Indian.
“Anyone who knows anything about high-level sport will know very well that if you play 13 games at a high level, at a high intensity, prepare for six months and then you come and play the last game of a world championship, you’re dead. perspective. We were basically two dead guys playing chess and mistakes happened in those moments,” he said.
Gukesh also gave up on the possibility of defending his world title at home, saying it was “still a long way off” and something he would have to think about.
