Viswanathan Anand offers reality check to Gukesh amid dip in form before Sindarov clash: 'Lock yourself in a room'

Reigning world chess champion Dommaraju Gukesh is currently going through a challenging phase in his career, marked by a noticeable dip in form following his historic rise in 2024. The young Indian star, who became the youngest undisputed world chess champion by beating Ding Liren, has struggled for consistency in recent tournaments.

Gukesh’s struggles were evident at the Prague Masters in March 2026, where he finished joint-bottom and lost a significant number of rating points. Following this disappointing run, he decided to take a step back from a packed schedule and focus more on training and preparation.

This decision came after a mixed 2025 season. While the 19-year-old achieved the biggest milestone of his career by winning the world title, his performances in events like the FIDE World Cup, Freestyle Chess, and World Rapid and Blitz championships were below expectations.

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Anand's advice for Gukesh

With a crucial world championship match against Javokhir Sindarov later this year, Gukesh is now under pressure to regain his best form. Amid this phase, Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has shared valuable advice.

Speaking in an interview with Lichess, Anand said that criticism and pressure are part of being a world champion. He also offered a reality check about the value of holding the world title.

"I think what you can learn is to focus on what you can do first of all. Having been through something similar, I would say just ignore it. If you are unable to ignore it, if at some level it bugs you, accept that that's normal. And nobody promised you perfect happiness. Even as a world champion, nobody owes you perfection or everything smooth and wonderful things. It's going to be rough, everyone will look at you differently and everyone covets your title secretly," Anand said.

"I think you will not appreciate the world championship till you lose it and then when you don't have it, you'll suddenly think, did I really complain about these things? Because my god, it would be nice to have it back."

Anand further explained that fans and critics will always have opinions, especially when performances dip, and that players must learn to deal with them. He also admitted that some of those criticisms are indeed legitimate. He advised Gukesh to stay focused on improving his game and let results do the talking.

"So, for him, I would say it comes with the territory. I mean, ignore them. Let the criticism go. I mean, some of it is legitimate. I mean, if your performance drops, they are there, and, I mean, if fans buy the tickets, they have the right to say whatever they want, whether it's just or not. You know, lock yourself in a room and then just ignore it, but focus on doing a good job at some tournament. If it's not this one, then the next one, but I mean work towards something and nothing answers every doubt expressed about you as a good result. So that's kind of what I think has got to be the attitude," he added.