For about half a minute, Grzegorz Gajewski searches for the right words. The question is a fairly simple one: what will be D Gukesh’s priority in terms of chess in 2026.
As Gukesh’s full-time coach since 2023, Gajewski has watched as the teenager from Chennai vroomed his way from being a prodigy to becoming the youngest world champion in chess history.
Of course, 2026 is the year that Gukesh enters the trenches to defend his crown. But Gajewski is trying to explain what the Indian will prioritise in terms of chess, and not just competitions. Eventually, he finds the two words he’s looking for: patience and confidence.
It’s a curious mix of words.
“Both of them combined, I’m sure are going to give him great results,” Gajewski tells The Indian Express. “When you’re confident, you’re patient as well, right? Because you know the results are going to come.”
After an all-conquering 2024, Gukesh and Gajewski experienced a choppy 2025. The results just did not come, even though tournaments were plentiful with organisers of every kind of event — from exhibition games to rapid and blitz tournaments, besides classical ones — wanting a piece of the world champion.
Gukesh was happy to oblige, but that will change in 2026. He pulled out of the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz in Kolkata and will instead start his year at the Tata Steel Masters classical tournament in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee on Saturday.
Grzegorz Gajewski helped Gukesh become world champion.
“We will have to scale back, for sure. Some of the exhibition matches, online events, we will have to skip, that’s certain. We won’t be playing too many events (this year). We’ll play the most important ones as we are planning to stay active. Simply because he is very young and playing is the best thing for him to grow,” says Gajewski.
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The string of losses in 2025 led to plenty of scrutiny of the world champion’s form, not to mention comparisons with his predecessors on the throne.
“I don’t think he (Gukesh) is even aware of that (the criticism and comments about him). He is just focused on chess, not on the comments from the outside world,” claims the Polish grandmaster.
As Gukesh’s full-time coach since 2023, Gajewski has not just seen the teenager become world champion, he’s observed the now-19-year-old mature into a man, wise beyond his years.
Ask him how Gukesh has evolved over the last three years and he points to the recent World Rapid and Blitz Championship where he says there were certain points when Gukesh harboured ambitions of finishing among the top players.
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“In Qatar, it was clear that he was able to cope with some of the losses in a much better way, especially during the event. In both events, he was actually hoping to fight for the top spots. It didn’t end up that way, but it didn’t actually anger him. Obviously, he was disappointed, but not to the point that it would make him play worse (in following games),” explains Gajewski.
“He’s certainly maturing as a person. He is very young, but not a kid anymore, which means he is aware of many things that previously were not so obvious to him. In a way, this makes it a bit trickier for him, because when you are a kid, you don’t care. You cry a little, and then you move on. But now, he feels the grown-up’s pressure. The expectations that he is putting on himself, when he achieves it — or when he fails to — these things are kind of heavier now. The pressure is just more difficult. It was not so easy for him last year.”
Gajewski, fondly known as Gaju in chess circles, was also part of the team in many of Viswanathan Anand’s world championship battles. He points out that some of the defeats in 2025 were a “direct result of just trying too hard.”
And while he acknowledges that the weight of the crown is much heavier on Gukesh than on any of his predecessors – simply because he is the youngest world champion in chess history – he’s also glad about the size of the battles the teenager is fighting at this young an age.
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“I’m happy that he is getting this kind of experience, because none of his opponents have this opportunity. They all experience pressure, but not as high as Gukesh.”
With a world championship looming at the end of the year, this will be a defining year for Gukesh. All he needs is patience and confidence.
