D Gukesh is ‘universally accepted as world champion’: Indian Grandmaster hits again at critics

Two back-to-back poor outings within the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 have put chess world champion D Gukesh underneath elevated scrutiny over his current World Championship win. Nevertheless, amid the rising criticism, Indian Grandmaster and coach Srinath Narayanan has thrown his weight behind Gukesh.

Gukesh grew to become the youngest world chess champion at 18 after beating
Ding Liren of China in December final yr. Nevertheless, Gukesh’s victory was criticised by former world champions Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik
for its perceived lack of high quality.

Since changing into the world champion via a classical format competitors, Gukesh has been principally busy taking part in within the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which is performed within the Fischer Random or Chess960 format.

Gukesh had didn’t win a single match within the first leg at Weissenhaus and whereas he ended the drought in Paris, the Chennai participant
finally completed joint-last.

Quickly after, a video of Norwegian Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer, a former fundamental second for Carlsen, went viral through which he questioned
Gukesh’s functionality to carry onto his crown.

Gukesh ‘has nothing to show’

Reacting to Hammer’s feedback, Srinath, who was the Indian males’s staff coach as they gained gold for the primary time within the 2024 Olympiad, stated Gukesh is universally accepted because the world champion and he doesn’t have to show something to anybody.

“I don’t really feel any explicit try and downplay Gukesh because the world champion usually. He’s universally accepted because the world champion and there’s no questioning that,” Srinath instructed New Indian Categorical.

“Gukesh doesn’t notably have to show something to anybody. I additionally haven’t seen anybody mentioning that Gukesh gained the World championship by luck. As for Gukesh’s leads to freestyle, I feel 1-2 tournaments is way too early to attract any main conclusions.”

Whereas Hammer felt the challengers within the chess world are presently nearly as good because the world champion and labelled it as a nasty factor for the game. Srinath stated Gukesh has the flexibility to retain his crown in 2026 and even when that doesn’t occur, a aggressive rivalry just isn’t dangerous for any sport.

“Gukesh actually has the flexibility to maintain the crown. However it’ll positively not be straightforward and his subsequent challenger might very effectively be one in every of his compatriots from India or from his age group. Him and his trainers could have one of the best concept on what he must do to enhance and defend his title,” Srinath shared with New Indian Categorical.

“I don’t suppose a aggressive rivalry could have any adverse impact on the game. For instance, in tennis for a time period we had Federer (Roger), Nadal (Rafael) and Djokovic (Novak) all intently on the prime and the rivalry was good to look at,” he added.