Heavy lies the crown: Gukesh’s reign as world champion begins to mirror Ding Liren’s struggles

It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice to rise to the top. And just as much, if not much, to stay there.

Dommaraju Gukesh had smashed records on his way to becoming the youngest world champion in Singapore last year, fulfilling his childhood ambition and becoming the toast of the chess world in the process.

Less than a year since his emotional triumph over China’s Ding Liren, the 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster is finding out the hard way that being the world champion isn’t quite the cakewalk that legends such as Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen made it look.

A gradual decline since the triumph in Singapore

The teenager had taken a break after his epic triumph in Singapore, returning to action at the Tata Steel Chess in January-February where he nearly was crowned champion – missing out on back-to-back major titles by a whisker after losing against compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in tie-breaks.

The runner-up finish in that event had helped Gukesh silence questions pertaining to his status as a world champion, with the teenager emphasising on the fact that he belonged to this level and deserved a shot at competing with world No 1 Carlsen.

The journey since then, however, has only helped his critics sharpen their knives and question whether he deserves the honour of ‘world champion’ or not.

Gukesh has barely made an impact at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, where fellow Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi has gone as far as the last four. The Chennai boy has also largely struggled in faster time controls – except in the Rapid section of SuperUnited Croatia, where he exhibited marked improvement in format.

It’s his declining graph in the Classical format, however, that should worry not just Gukesh but Indian chess in general.

He did finish a creditable third at Norway Chess, where he defeated Carlsen for the first time in his career and even was among the frontrunners for the title at one point. Gukesh, however, was nowhere near the top half of the section in the Sinquefield Cup, where he lost to Praggnanandhaa and eventual winner Wesley So and finished eighth in the overall standings.

For him to fall out of the top five in a Classical tournament certainly does raise eyebrows. As does a world champion suffering back-to-back losses against players ranked much lower than him in the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss.

Abhimanyu Mishra’s victory over Gukesh, which made the American GM of Indian origin the youngest ever to beat a world champion, was perceived by some as a wake-up call. For Gukesh to lose against Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou, though, highlights that there might be more than just a loss of form at play at the moment.

How Gukesh’s struggle mirrors Ding’s journey

Gukesh’s reign as world champion isn’t very different from that of Ding – except for the fact that he had qualified for the World Championship showdown against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi despite finishing runner-up at the 2022 Candidates after Carlsen decided against defending his world title, citing lack of interest in Standard chess and FIDE events.

After defeating ‘Nepo’ in tie-breaks and becoming the first Chinese player to be crowned world champion, Ding had finished 8th at Superbet Chess Classic Romania, a Classical event that’s part of the Grand Chess Tour. That was followed by Ding taking a nine-month break from the sport citing depression, the pressure of being the world champion appearing to take a toll on him.

He would return to action in January the following year, finishing ninth at the Tata Steel Chess where Gukesh had finished as the runner-up. His victory over Gukesh in that tournament would be his last in the Classical format until the World Championship showdown against the very same person towards the end of the year, understandably making him something of an underdog heading into his title defence.

It was abundantly clear that Ding wasn’t the same person that had beaten Nepomniachtchi in the most prized event in the chess world, and he was fairly vocal about his mental struggle between April 2023, when he was crowned the world champion in Astana, and November 2024, as well as its impact on his form.

There are fears that Gukesh might be going through a similar phase, with a clip that is going viral on social media showing a frustrated reaction from the teenager after his defeat against Theodorou on Tuesday.

“the crown is very heavy, mother”👑 pic.twitter.com/GCCHs7b4km

— Áz (@absurdistoic) September 9, 2025

Theodorou’s comments after his surprise victory over Gukesh also highlight the fact that Gukesh, like Ding during his reign as world champion, isn’t quite the same player as before.

“He surprised me right out of the opening with this weird c5 move, which I think is extremely rare. I had never seen it before in that position. At some point, I messed up and thought it should be a draw, but he started checking my king, lost time, and I managed to escape. After time control, I don’t think he had any chances to save it,” Theodorou told FIDE.

“He even made an incorrect claim for a threefold repetition, so I got two extra minutes. That helped me a lot near time control,” he added.

Time for Gukesh to take a step back?  

A sharp dip in form in recent months doesn’t necessarily mean Gukesh’s done and dusted as a world-class player, and that his glory days are behind him, and the remainder of his current reign as world champion doesn’t have to pan out the way it did for Ding.

Depending on how he fares at the FIDE World Cup, which will be hosted in Goa, India, starting next month, Gukesh could plan out his workload for the next few months. If he fails to make an impact in the home event as well, maybe stepping away from the limelight and going back to the drawing board, perhaps with his mentor Anand, might do him a world of good.

There’s also the option of re-hiring mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, whom he had worked with during his World Championship triumph last year. The South African has had quite the golden touch on Indian sport, helping the Indian cricket team win the 2011 ICC World Cup and the hockey team win bronze in the Paris Olympics last year.

And given his stellar record, he might just help Gukesh come out of the mental rut that he finds himself stuck in at the moment.

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