One year is a long time. In December 2024, D Gukesh was the new world chess champion. Literally, it was a ‘leap year’ for him. He won the Candidates, excelled at the Olympiad and became the youngest to bag the biggest prize.
As another December heads towards the third week, the reality is different. Gukesh experienced more downs than ups in 2025. He started on a good note, finishing second on tie-breaker at the Tata Steel Masters. After that, it was time to come face to face with the other side of a sportsperson’s life. A summary of Gukesh’s first year as a world champion…
No title after the big one
Not that even the strongest of players win everything, but a world champion is expected to finish first once in a while. Gukesh came close in the first event of the year — the Tata Steel meet in Wijk aan Zee — and didn’t get much of a chance in any of the competitions that followed.
He won double gold in the European Club Cup and finished a respectable third at Norway Chess, but the number of defeats in most other individual tournaments was high. The third round exit from the World Cup in Goa and finishing 41st in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan were the lowest points.
Ranking takes a hit
Starting the year as world No. 5, Gukesh reached a career-best of No. 3 in March. However, a series of underwhelming performances against opponents rated lower than him took a toll on his rankings. In October, he slipped out of the top-10 after a long time. He clawed back to ninth in November and was 10th in the latest list.
Cracking the Carlsen code
This should be Gukesh’s biggest takeaway in 2025. After winning the world title in Singapore, he had said that he is the world champion but not the No. 1 player. “That has to be Magnus (Carlsen) and I’d like to test myself against him.”
Gukesh scripted a famous win against the best player of the world at Norway Chess. His first victory against the Norwegian coming at his den made it special. Carlsen made the occasion memorable by banging the table in frustration. Gukesh beat him again in a rapid event soon after.
Making a mark in rapid
Gukesh ticked another box by topping the rapid segment of a top rapid and blitz event in Croatia. This is where he beat Carlsen in a shorter format for the first time. Not known to be as strong in speed chess as in the classical format, this was a landmark of sorts for Gukesh.
However, he didn’t do as well in other rapid events and in the ongoing Global Chess League, Gukesh had drawn one and lost two of his first three games.
Despite setbacks, style unchanged
It’s said that Gukesh could have avoided defeats and the loss of rating points had he been selective in playing tournaments. Many top players do that. But the Chennai player who turned 19 in May took part in almost all the competitions in all formats. In most places he went, setbacks followed.
It has also been noted that despite adverse results, Gukesh has not made major changes in his approach, which is relentless pursuit for victory. He doesn’t take the draw option and sometimes, loses while pressing. Viswanathan Anand said after beating him in the GCL that Gukesh could have played safe, but didn’t because it isn’t his style.
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