D Gukesh decision to opt for a lighter schedule is not a move to hide, but to recalibrate ahead of bigger challenges

Gukesh Dommaraju has not been in action since finishing joint-bottom at the Prague Chess Festival Masters tournament last month, failing to win a single game until he defeated Spain's David Antón Guijarro in the final round.

The 19-year-old had been going through a steady decline since becoming the youngest chess world champion with his last-gasp victory over Ding Liren in December 2024. Though he has had his moments last year, finishing runner-up at the Tata Steel Chess and beating Magnus Carlsen for the first time in his career, Gukesh's form graph in the Classical format has witnessed a downward curve in his reign as world champion. Including and especially in the second half of the year, at major events such as Fide Grand Swiss and the World Cup in Goa.

Gukesh skips majority of 2026 GCT

It's been nearly a month since the conclusion of Prague Masters, and Gukesh is currently scheduled to return to competition at the Menorca Masters that will be taking place in Minorca, Spain from 7 to 12 April. The focus, however, would have been on his participation at the Grand Chess Tour, which gets underway a little over a month from now with the Super Rapid and Blitz in Warsaw, Poland starting 3 May.

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The Indian Grandmaster, however, announced on Tuesday that he will be limiting his participation in the prestigious tour this year, entering as a wildcard participant in Warsaw as well as at the Super Rapid and Blitz Croatia (29 June to 6 July) in Zagreb. And that he will be skipping the remaining events, including the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, USA.

"My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me. In order to find my best form my team and I have decided that I should compete with slightly less intensity over the next few months," Gukesh wrote in posts shared on his social media accounts.

"Consequently, we feel it is in my best interest to skip long events away from home to allow for more dedicated training time," he added.

Gukesh has had his fair share of critics since his meteoric rise in 2024, many of them questioning his credentials as a world champion, especially considering Carlsen's semi-retirement from the Classical format. There might also be those who will view the teen world champion's latest move as retreating back into his shell, especially in the face of mounting criticism.

Reigniting the fire within

The decision, however, is worthy of praise. Gukesh, after all, has had to deal with tremendous mental pressure since becoming world champion, especially when dealing with setbacks such as suffering a hat-trick of defeats against lower-rated players or remaining winless throughout the tournament until the final round. Some of the scrutiny, at times, had also been over the top and unnecessary.

And considering he will be defending his world title later this year, Gukesh couldn't have picked a better time to take a break from the game and allow his mind to calm down and recalibrate before recommencing his training.

Mind you, by scaling down his schedule, Gukesh isn’t hiding, but he is inviting greater scrutiny and criticism. But there are moments in life, and not just in chess, where one needs to take a step backwards and analyse whether they are indeed going in the right direction or not. The manner in which Gukesh had lost his touch as well as his confidence in recent months, which reflected in his body language during tournaments, suggested that things certainly weren't well at his end.

Chess coach Srinath Narayanan, in an exclusive chat with this website, had recently compared Gukesh with Sylvester Stallone's popular character Rocky Balboa and had advised the 19-year-old to rediscover why he fell in love with chess as a kid in the first place.

With a lighter schedule in the build-up to the World Championship showdown against whoever wins the ongoing Fide Candidates in Cyprus, this would perhaps be the best time for Gukesh to rediscover that passion.