Gukesh crumbling under pressure, needs to shut out noise: Nakamura

PARIS: World champion D Gukesh is crumbling under the weight of expectations and needs to shut out the noise to regain his form ahead of his title defence, said American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who also revealed that the 2028 Chess Olympiad could potentially be his last tournament featuring "true classical" chess.

Gukesh has faced a slump since his historic 2024 World Championship win, dropping down in ratings after finishing last at both Norway Chess and a recent event in Chennai, alongside low finishes at the Tata Steel Chess and Prague Masters.

"I don't know what Gukesh can do differently. I know what he should have done differently, which is to basically be willing to take draws in a lot of games instead of trying to play for the win," Nakamura said to a PTI query on Wednesday.

"But obviously, I'm not Indian. So, I don't necessarily understand the culture, all the pressure that he's facing. But I get the general sense that there's a lot of pressure whether it's external, whether it's internal. I think he's crumbling because of it.

"I think if he can kind of just, like, block it all out, forget that he's world champion. You know, this is obviously quotable. But sort of forget that he's never going to be Magnus Carlsen. I'm quite confident his rating will go back up."

Gukesh's classical FIDE rating dropped to 2703 in the August 2026 list.

"I don't know if it'll go to 2,800. But I mean, he'll definitely get to, like, 2,740 at least if he kind of just puts a couple of things out of his mind. But obviously, it's very hard," Nakamura continued.

"I mean, he's one of the world champions. And you're not the best player. And everyone's comparing you to probably the greatest player of all time. And it's very difficult mentally."

Nakamura, however, does not believe Gukesh's upcoming title defence against Uzbek challenger Javokhir Sindarov is a foregone conclusion despite considering him the underdog.

"Even though I think, Gukesh is the big underdog in the match, I don't think it's that unlikely that he wins the match. It's like 75-25 in favour of Sindarov... if the match happens today, Sindarov is playing better. So Sindarov is likely to win. But as I said, 75-25 doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win every time.

"But I think it's going to be a close match. I don't think it's going to be some blowout like a lot of people think it will be."

Vishy is sort of the godfather

Nakamura's assessment of Gukesh also comes in the context of what he sees as a remarkable transformation in Indian chess although he still believes five-time champion Vishwanathan Anand remains the "Godfather".

"There was only one Indian player from the time I was probably like 6-7 years old when I started until I was about 30 or around there. So, I mean, it's a big difference when you have a lot of them competing. Make no mistake, I still think Vishy is the best Indian player ever.

"We'll see what happens with the new generation, whether they surpass him, but of course Vishy is sort of the godfather, the one who started it all. So because of the contributions that Vishy has made, you have Nihal (Sarin), you have Praggnanandhaa, you have Gukesh, Arjun (Erigaisi), and who knows who else will break through... so, I think chess in India, the future is very bright."

Nakamura expects Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandhaa to remain prominent figures in the world championship race.

"I think they've struggled a little bit in recent times. To me, when I look at it, I feel like Arjun, he had this bad match against Alireza (Firouzja) today, where he made a blunder, but overall, I feel like he's been playing a little bit better. I think Pragg has been playing very well of late... I think they're all playing well. I think they'll be competing for the World Championship.

"Right now, maybe Arjun and Pragg are climbing back up. But at any rate, they're going to be there for a long time. They're definitely very strong players, and they deserve it."

I'm eyeing 2028 Olympiad as my last classical tournament

While Gukesh's immediate future remains tied to the classical world championship, Nakamura himself is contemplating how much longer he wants to compete in the traditional format.

"... I'm definitely eyeing the 2028 Olympiad as perhaps my last classical chess tournament. Like true classical, it's, you know, forget about the fast classical and everything. But I am thinking about that potentially, the 2028 Olympiad and that's what I've got."

The 38-year-old American has become increasingly critical of shorter formats being classified as classical chess.

"I think it's no secret that I'm very opposed to the notion of these 45-minute games being countered as classical chess. I think that at the present time, it's possible to have rapid, what you want to call slow rapid, fast rapid, whatever it is. I think games under 16 minutes should just be rapid games.

"I think there's a way to make those events very exciting. But I think rating them as classical games is absurd. I think certain players are probably going to suffer because of it."

Nakamura, however, is positive about chess's inclusion in the ongoing Esports World Cup.

"I think what I would say is there has to be more than just two players sitting at the board playing a classical game of chess if you want there to be a bigger audience. And so I think having the teams, having fans who will cheer for us, even if they know nothing about chess, is another way to bring people in to follow a great game of chess.

"Who knows if they'll stick with it or not, but certainly there's more interest than would otherwise be there."