Aronian explains why Gukesh has struggled since being crowned world champion: ‘It will take him some time…’

Dommaraju Gukesh has had a mixed run since he had become the youngest world champion in chess history in December. The 19-year-old has been impressive in Classical tournaments such as Tata Steel Chess, Norway Chess and has even shown improvement in the Rapid format – having done well at the SuperUnited Croatia.

Gukesh, however, continues to struggle in Blitz chess and has also failed to make much of an impression in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

And it’s not as if he has been a hit in every Classical tournament since his triumph over China’s Ding Liren in the World Championship in Singapore, with Gukesh having finished ninth out of 10 players in Superbet Chess Classic Romania, the event that was won by current Indian No 1 R Praggnanandhaa.

Armenian-American Grandmaster Levon Aronian, for one, believes that while being crowned world champion is an incredible feat, one that is worthy of being considered the highlight of one’s career, maintaining oneself at the top of the chess can be equally difficult.

“It’s phenomenal what he has achieved. It’s going to be very hard for him to maintain his positions because it’s one thing being a talented kid who’s fighting and trying to prove himself, and it’s another thing when people look at you and they really want your blood. And we saw it in his recent event where he played with Duda (Jan-Krzysztof Duda), and Duda ate him alive. It was crazy,” Aronian told American GM Yasser Seirawan published on Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube channel.

“It will take him some time to change his style. I think same happened with Fabi (Fabiano Caruana). Fabi wasn’t good in blitz and rapid. Then he kind of adjusted, and he learned. It took him about four or five years,” the 42-year-old added.

Aronian, who is currently participating in the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, USA, was referring to Gukesh’s 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Polish GM Duda – his second at the World Championship – in a series of Blitz games that took place in Katowice, Poland earlier this month.

Aronian reminisces losing to 12-year-old Gukesh

Aronian, who is currently ranked second in the ongoing Sinquefield Cup where Caruana, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Duda are also in action, also reminisced an incident involving the reigning Classical world champion a few years ago that highlighted his potential as a future superstar of the game.

“When he was about 12, he was playing in Isle of Man. After the tournament, people get together at the closing ceremony, and I think he said, ‘Oh let’s play a game of blitz’. And I was thinking, ‘Okay, this kid…’.,” Aronian continued during the conversation.

“And then I lost the game, I was very embarrassed. I thought to myself, ‘My God, how can this happen?’. It was just one game, and we were like – loser’s out. And seeing him play so well after such a short time, I realised, yeah there must have been a reason,” he added.