Gukesh offered crucial advice by Anand to overcome poor form ahead of Sindarov showdown: 'You have to block...'

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has urged reigning world champion D Gukesh to "block out other things" if he is to regain his old form ahead of his title defence against Javokhir Sindarov at the World Championship later this year. Anand, a five-time Classical world champion, added that achieving the incredible feat at the age of 18 is a "big change" in life and can have quite the impact on an individual mentally.

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Gukesh had become the youngest world champion in chess history after beating Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in Singapore in December 2024. He had also become the youngest winner of the Candidates tournament that year and had also won gold on Board 1 at the Chess Olympiad, where India completed a historic golden sweep.

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'Becoming world champion at 18 is a big change in your life'

Gukesh's form, however, has taken a massive hit over the past one year, with the 20-year-old failing to make an impact at major events such as the FIDE Grand Swiss and World Cup last year and the Tata Steel Chess earlier this year. And earlier this month, he had finished at the bottom of the six-player standings at Norway Chess, the event in which he had secured a third-place finish last year.

"I would basically say it’s about getting back to the level where you play good chess and you have to block out other things,” he said when asked about Gukesh’s recent reflections on his relationship with chess," Anand told Sportstar at an event in Chennai on Wednesday.

"Becoming world champion at 18 is a big change in your life. It also is a big change in how other people look at you, so there’s a lot of mental stuff to unpack. But in the end, you have to hunker down and play good chess again," he continued.

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Gukesh had withdrawn from this year's Grand Chess Tour in order to lighten his schedule and spend more time training ahead of the World Championship showdown against Sindarov, the schedule and venue for which is yet to be decided.

The Chennai lad had, instead, participated in the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the opening GCT event this year, as a wildcard participant and will follow suit in Zagreb, where the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia event gets underway on 1 July.