D Gukesh in Goa: Can world champion become World Cup winner?

D Gukesh's performance graph has been going downhill ever since he was crowned the youngest world champion in Singapore last December. The 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster has had his moments since then, nearly winning the prestigious Tata Steel Chess right after his victory over Ding Liren in the FIDE World Championship and beating world No 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in his career in Norway Chess.

A forgettable run so far in 2025

The negatives, however, have far outweighed the positives for the Chennai lad this year. Gukesh, after all, opted out of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after failing to make an impact in the first round rounds in Weissenhaus and Paris. And while he has shown some improvement in rapid chess, beating Carlsen in the rapid leg of SuperUnited Croatia in July, he continues to struggle in blitz chess.

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The situation became dire after Gukesh suffered a hat-trick of defeats against lower-ranked players at the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan's Samarkand last month, with the reigning world champion appearing increasingly frustrated with each loss.

There still are a couple of months left in the year and plenty of chess action still to come. And the FIDE World Cup that got underway in Arpora, Goa on Friday Gukesh is presented with a golden opportunity to not only end a turbulent year on a happy note but also regain his consistency with a year to go until he finds himself defending his world title.

And while other players will be fighting to qualify for next year's Candidates, with the World Cup offering three spots for the prestigious event that will be taking place next year, reigning world champion Gukesh has just one thing on his mind – that of regaining his old touch which had led to a red-hot run in 2024.

Can Gukesh achieve the rare double of winning the World Cup while being a world champion (those two terms aren't the same in chess unlike in other sports), and become the first Indian to win the event since the legendary Viswanathan Anand in 2002?

For starters, Gukesh – who enters the World Cup as the top seed due to his status as the reigning world champion – will be enjoying the support of a home crowd in Goa, as will fellow stars Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Divya Deshmukh and other Indians in action. In Gukesh's case, it will be his first home event as the world champion, and that should get him a few extra cheers compared to his compatriots.

How Gukesh has shown signs of improvement recently

And while he has struggled even in the Classical format this year, including in the Sinquefield Cup in August as well as last month's Grand Swiss, Gukesh has showed signs of improvement recently.

At the European Chess Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece, Gukesh would have had his morale boosted with an individual gold medal on Board 1 despite sitting out of the first two rounds, helping his club 'SuperChess' win the 'Open' title in dominant fashion as a result.

D Gukesh in action against Magnus Carlsen at the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown in St Louis, USA. Image credit: Saint Louis Chess Club

At the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown – a three-day event in St Louis, USA that featured the world's top three players in addition to the world champion – Gukesh showed humility in his victory over world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura before collecting back-to-back wins over Fabiano Caruana, ranked third in the world. Not a bad feat for a player who is said to be going through a decline, that too while playing in rapid (10+5) time control.

And if he could give the world Nos 2 and 3 a run for their money at a time when he's struggling for form, in a format that he's not as comfortable in as Classical chess, who's to say he can't excel against the likes of Arjun, 'Pragg', Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri and others who are among the leading contenders for the top-three spots in the World Cup.

Winning the World Cup won't put a full stop to Gukesh's woes. But it could mark the beginning of an emphatic comeback, one that he hopes will culminate in a successful Classical title defence next year.