It doesn’t make sense to assess a chess player’s performance in January and try to think how he might shape up in December. A lot of the present will be past in 10-11 months.
But when the player is D Gukesh and the event to take place at the end of this year is the World Championship featuring him, it draws attention. The world champion has got off to a torrid start to 2026. Add to it the latter part of last year, and the glory days of 2024 start feeling like a flashback.
At the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Gukesh is 10th in a field of 14 players. The fifth seed’s tally is four points from nine rounds. He has lost three of his last four games. Unless there is a sensational turnaround in the four remaining rounds, he will be out of the top 10 in the world rankings. Opponents will start believing Gukesh is vulnerable.
Going into the competition where he finished second on tie-breaker in the last two years, Gukesh scored two impressive wins after draws in the first four rounds. But setbacks in the sixth, seventh and ninth made bigger headlines. It started with a blunder from an even position against tournament leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Against Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum, Gukesh was gradually and inevitably overpowered.
Unlike the other three Indians who are doing worse on the points table – Arjun Erigaisi is 11th, R Praggnanandhaa 12th and Aravindh Chithambaram 14th – Gukesh had a bit of rest before travelling to the coastal town in northern Netherlands. From the crazy playing itinerary of USA-Goa-Mumbai-Doha-Kolkata-Wijk Aan Zee in about 10 weeks, the Chennai star skipped Tata Steel rapid and blitz in Kolkata.
The results have not changed. The curve which dipped late last year in the format he likes the most continues. At the Grand Swiss last September, Gukesh lost three successive games against players rated at least 120 points below. Then came the third-round defeat in the World Cup against an opponent of similar stature. The opposition is significantly stronger in Wijk Aan Zee and the blip in performance is more visible.
Unless he does remarkably better in the remainder of Tata Steel Masters, this bad run will push Gukesh out of the top 10 for the second time since he entered that list in September 2023. He had become No. 11 for a month in FIDE ratings in October 2025. According to live ratings on 2700chess.com, he is No. 12 after the ninth round, having lost 8.6 rating points.
Ding Liren had to endure a steeper fall after he became the world champion in 2023. The Indian who dethroned the Chinese is still narrowly out of the top 10, despite going through his worst phase at this level yet. But given that he was No. 3 last March, the expectations arising out of his spectacular performances, and his reputation of fighting tough situations, Gukesh’s descent is glaring.
Experts often refuse to read too much into how elite players fare in one or two events. The gap between them is minimal if one leaves aside Magnus Carlsen. Other than the undisputed No. 1 in all formats, nobody is untouchable. In the case of Gukesh, it’s different. Youngest-ever world champion, face of a revolution that stunned world chess and still just 19-plus – he is a subject of interest. The spotlight has to be on him.
In the immediate run-up to his title defence at the end of this year, Gukesh is expected to play quite a few events. That means no respite from scrutiny. It will become relentless with each adverse result. Having ridden a wave of success to the big prize in 2024, Gukesh has the opposite for company at the moment, on his way to his second appearance on that stage.
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