Gukesh defends well, but must pick battles wisely, says Viswanathan Anand

Business Standard

21 hours ago

D Gukesh's tenacity in the face of setbacks is admirable but he shouldn't make it a habit to wait for mistakes from his opponents when faced with difficult situations in long-drawn-out games, feels his mentor and former world champion Viswanathan Anand.
The reigning world champion has pulled off wins against world number one Magnus Carlsen and world number four Arjun Erigaisi in the Norway Chess here, despite being in serious trouble, by provoking a struggle and forcing them to make mistakes.
World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura has expressed surprise at the Indian's style, saying he has been lucky to have survived Carlsen and Erigaisi being in a losing position for most part in both the showdowns.
"I feel he is a tenacious defender. People often give up and he just keeps on playing these totally lost positions, but not pointless ones. He plays the ones where he still has a little bit of counterplay and he finds resources to hang in there. And people get careless and fatigued," said Anand during an interaction on the sidelines of Norway Chess.
"Is he doing it all the time? It's a couple of games in this time control (at Norway Chess). It's true here; this stuff is happening... I don't know. There are a lot of trends to unpack. There's also the fact that Hikaru was mentioning that it's very hard to find some interesting lines to play," added the five-time former world champion.
Gukesh has trained at the Westbridge Anand Academy set up by the 55-year-old chess maestro. The 19-year-old prodigal talent has often stated that he wouldn't be where he is without his "Vishy sir".
And Anand said he does not want his ward to be a defensive player.
"...both these games he played (against Carlsen and Erigaisi were played) extremely poorly. If that's a conscious decision to provoke a struggle, I would be alarmed," said Anand "It tells me that he's an amazing fighter (and) at the same time, I would not be happy if he defended in this way." Carlsen the best classical player Anand has great admiration for five-time world champion Carlsen, saying he is still the best classical player in the game's history. The legendary Norwegian player has, of late, expressed his desire to move away from the long format to focus on Freestyle, Rapid and Blitz chess.
"He's done it (played classical chess) for quite a long time. And also it is natural (to move on). Let's be clear, if he stopped (playing classical chess), (and) these (Norway Chess games) were his last, he is still the best classical player in history," Anand said.
"I understand there are other contenders, but I think he probably pulls ahead because of many details. He's really put his stamp, especially very early, by keeping that quality all along, winning equal positions, snatching points out of the blue, he's done so much," he added.
However, Anand was clear that the game will find its new star when Carlsen leaves the scene.
"I don't think it's our job, or my job, to particularly react to. It's a normal part of life that at some point people stop doing something. The sport goes on.
"There are hundreds of new talents...11-year-olds, eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds. And in this (Carlsen's) case, we had a lot of warnings (that it was coming). Magnus has been talking about it for at least six years. So, it's not at all unexpected," said the legend.