Anand’s former trainer suggests Gukesh got a bit carried away: 'I have my objections towards this'

IM Venkatachalam Saravanan, who trained five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand during his peak years, has shared his thoughts on the recent dip for Indian Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh.

Speaking to ChessBase India, Saravanan said he did not want his comments to be taken in a negative way but felt that D Gukesh could have managed his commitments better during this phase of his career.

"This can easily lead to a negative answer, but I feel somewhere that Gukesh was appearing in certain events which he shouldn’t have. I feel so, to be honest. He played a Masters a week ago. That match, why did he turn up? I have my objections towards this," Saravanan said.

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He explained that his view comes from an "old school" mindset. "I belong to the old school. When you have a target in front of you, when you have the capacity to do something, when you have the opportunity to do something, single-minded dedication to the task is extremely important. I belong to that school because I have seen Vishy doing this," he said.

Saravanan recalled Anand’s preparation phase in 2008, when the Indian legend was preparing for Vladimir Kramnik and went on to win the World Championship. He said Anand’s father once mentioned how his family members travelled from different cities for his 70th birthday, but Anand did not attend despite living nearby.

"In 2008 we were preparing for Kramnik. Anand went and won the world championship. After the match got over, he came back and there are interviews in which his father said, ‘During this time my 70th birthday happened and my son with his family came from Bhilai, my daughter with her family came from New York. Vishy Anand, my son, lives just 3 kilometers away and he didn’t come. He sent his wife.’ That was Vishy for you," Saravanan said.

Saravanan's advice to Gukesh

Saravanan insisted that certain core values must remain unchanged despite the changing times, suggesting that Gukesh may have got a bit carried away after his world championship win.

"You want to become a world champion, you better have that kind of passion and focus. I belong to that school and times may change. You may get better facilities to work on chess. You may have better opportunities to go abroad and play and all that. But core values like focus, hunger, passion and single-mindedness should stay forever," he said.

"So on that count again I don’t want to make it negative, but I feel Gukesh could have done a little better, I feel. But again he has time now again about 6 months, so definitely these changes are easier to make when you are younger. So that toning down from participating in too many Grand Chess Tour events, I think that's a very good decision he has taken. So there is time," Saravanan added.

Last month, Gukesh announced his withdrawal from certain long-form Grand Chess Tour events to focus more on training ahead of his world championship match. He took the decision after suffering horrendous results across tournaments in the recent past. Gukesh will face 2026 Candidates winner Javokhir Sindarov in the world title match later this year.