Srinath rushes to Indian GM’s defence after poor run in Freestyle tour

Srinath Narayanan, one of India’s premier chess coaches, has come forward to defend the youngest and current World Champion D Gukesh after his poor run at the recently concluded Paris Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, where the 18-year-old finished second last in the field of 12 players. Coming to Gukesh’s defence, Srinath feels the Indian teenager has nothing to prove to anyone.
“Gukesh doesn’t particularly need to prove anything to anyone. I also haven’t noticed anyone mentioning that Gukesh won the World Championship luck. As for Gukesh’s results in freestyle, I think 1-2 tournaments are far too early to draw any major conclusions,” Srinath said to The New Indian Express. “I don’t feel any particular attempt to downplay Gukesh as the world champion in general. He is universally accepted as the world champion and there is no questioning that,” he added.
Gukesh has also been facing heat from the chess community after his winless run at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle tour. Norwegian grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer questioned Gukesh’s ability to hold onto his World Championship title for a prolonged period.
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“Gukesh certainly has the ability to keep the crown. But it will definitely not be easy, and his next challenger could very well be one of his compatriots from India or from his age group. Him and his trainers will have the best idea on what he needs to do to improve and defend his title,” said Srinath.
Gukesh became the youngest-ever world champion in hory in Singapore last year after beating China’s Ding Liren in the 14-match final.
Once a Second of five-time World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, Hammer also implied that most of the top players were on par with Gukesh and the world title could keep passing on from one player to another, and that is not good for the sport. Srinath countered it saying. “I don’t think a competitive rivalry will have any negative effect on the sport. For example, in tennis for a period of time we had Federer (Roger), Nadal (Rafael) and Djokovic (Novak) all closely at the top and the rivalry was brilliant to watch,” he said.
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