Gukesh drops bombshell on his poor form ahead of Sindarov clash: 'The truth is I care. I do get affected'

Reigning World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh has made a candid admission about his recent struggles, revealing that the pressure of holding the title and a loss of motivation after achieving his biggest goal have contributed to his poor form.

The 20-year-old Indian grandmaster is going through a difficult phase in his career after finishing at the bottom of the standings at the Norway Chess 2026, which his compatriot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won. Gukesh has been struggling for form ever since he won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2024, becoming the youngest-ever to achieve the feat at just 18 years old.

With just a few months left before he defends his world title against 2026 Candidates winner Javokhir Sindarov, questions have been raised about his performances and form leading up to the highly-anticipated competition.

In an honest interview with Hindustan Times, Gukesh admitted that the expectations that come with being world champion have been difficult to handle for him. Gukesh said that he is an ambitious player who wants to keep winning tournaments, but it has been difficult for him to cope with his recent dip in form.

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"Managing expectations. As much as you try to switch off from the outside world, you’re still aware that there is this elephant in the room – of expectations from you and also you expect something from yourself. In general, I’m an ambitious player and I keep going for wins. Considering these things, it has been pretty hard but okay, it’s a challenge. I either break from it or grow through it. Right now, it is not looking great.. Let’s see.." he said.

Norway Chess was not the first tournament where the Indian GM failed to live up to expectations. He also performed poorly in the Grand Chess Tour: Super Rapid and Blitz Poland 2026, FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, FIDE Grand Swiss, World Rapid & Blitz 2025, among other events. He even saw his live ratings drop significantly in the past few months.

Gukesh on managing his ambitions

Gukesh also opened up on how he plans to manage himself better in the coming months. "To be more disciplined on the board and manage my ambitions better, because being ambitious is good as long as you control it. Lately my strengths have been controlling me, which is understandable because it’s a new phase for me. It’s not a phase that a lot of 19-20-year-olds go through. So, I think I can cut myself a bit of slack. But yeah, if I want to grow, I need to do some hard things, right?" he said.

"I think whenever you tell something like that, you’re tricking yourself because you know that this means a lot. If you tell yourself, ‘okay, it’s fine’ you’re not tricking yourself anymore. The truth is I care. I do get affected, but I need to be performing despite of all that. I’m not using age as an excuse. It’s normal. But I want to do something more to strive for greatness. I can understand these problems better. But it doesn’t mean it’s fine," Gukesh added.

Gukesh explained that he has been working closely with renowned mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton to improve the psychological side of his game. While he believes there has been progress, he admitted there is still plenty of work to do before he reaches his best level again.

"I’m still working with Paddy (Upton). I’m very happy with where I am compared to a couple of months back but it’s clear I still have a long way to be at my peak. All I can do is improve. I always feel like improvement happens before results happen. If I genuinely believe improvement is happening, then the results will catch up. For anybody, becoming a world champion is such a huge drive that most people are lucky not to achieve it. They constantly have something to push themselves. After that happens, you need to find something else that drives you, right?"

"It is a new phase. It is not like I am sitting on the couch and that’s why my results are… I am still putting a lot of work. They are very minute things which I have to think about and I’ve been thinking a lot. One of the instances I remember was after the Indian cricket team won the 2011 World Cup, they had this streak of results going into the next couple of years where they were doing pretty badly," he added.

The world championship match between Gukesh and Sindarov is expected to take place in November-December this year and will likely last 25 days. Meanwhile, Sindarov himself has witnessed a slight dip in form since crushing the Candidates in April. However, many experts are still calling him the favourite to win the world title regardless of his latest slump.