How a Polish crew and South African mental guru plotted Gukesh’s moves

When D. Gukesh came out of the hall at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore immediately after winning the world title on Thursday, he hugged a gentleman with distinctly East European looks before moving on for an emotional embrace with his father.  

The Polish gentleman is Grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski, a former second of the legendary Vishy Anand and a key member of the youngest world champion’s backroom team which helped him prepare for the epic battle against Chinese Ding Liren. The world of ‘seconds’ used to be often mired in mystery in the Cold War days but times have changed and Gukesh himself broke down on the role of each individual in his journey.  

Gajewski apart, the Polish flavour in his team was unmistakeable with Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Jan Klimkowski, Pentala Harikrishna and Vincent Keymer – apart from him picking the brains of his childhood mentor Anand. A much-needed addition barely six months back was the celebrated South African mental trainer Paddy Upton, who had been a part of India’s 2011 cricket World Cup winning squad of M.S.Dhoni and also the bronze medallist Indian hockey team at the Paris Olympics.

Both Gajewski and Wojtaszek seconded Anand during his own title campaigns, Jan-Krzysztof Duda in now the Polish No.1 and Jan Klimkowski is a 17-year-old upcoming Polish talent. The 20-year-old Keymer, meanwhile, is Germany’s most talented GM while Harikrishna has been a teammate of Gukesh and one of world’s leading players for past 20 years.

Asked about his think tank at the post-match press conference, Gukesh said: “Grzegorz Gajewski has been my trainer for the past two years. He is someone who just works tirelessly for me. Paddy (Upton) has been a huge support for me in six months before the world championship. Although he is not a part of my chess team, he is a very important person in my team and my journey towards this match.”

“I would also like to thank Radoslaw Wojtaszek. He was there for the FIDE Candidates tournament and the whole journey. Pentala Harikrishna has also been (a part of the team) for the whole Candidates-World Championship journey. Vincent Keymer joined the team for the match. Jan-Krzysztof Duda was also there for the Candidates but more as a playing partner. This time, he helped us in a couple of training camps. Jan Klimkowski was also helping Gajeswki and assisting me in the preparation during the Candidates,’’ said Gukesh.

What, precisely, was Anand’s role as he did not officially hold any position in the team? The branding of WACA (Westbridge Anand Chess Academy) on Gukesh’s jacket was a giveaway and Gukesh summed it up well: “Vishy Sir was never officially a part of the team but we all know he was supporting me. He attended one of the days during the training camp and also helping remotely for a few sessions.’’

 While Gajewski had referring to his 18-year-old ward as ‘insanely mature,’ Upton reflected that it was Gukesh’s depth and level of self awareness which helped him make up his mind to take Gukesh on board.  

Despite Upton not being someone who is used to handling chess players, it was his mantra which helped Gukesh unwind on the home stretch of the match. The South African drilled in him the need to sleep well and came up with an idea. ‘’What's the temperature setting in your AC,’’ Upton remembered asking the teen. When he said it was 24 degrees centigrade, Upton asked him to bring it down to 22.

‘’When you sleep, you want your body to cool down,’’ Upton said in an interview. ‘’This is a slightly warmer environment and that’s probably the optimal sleeping temperature although everyone is slightly different.’’ The team also decided to slightly tweak his yoga nidra (effortless relaxation) and the end result spoke for itself.