D Gukesh’s build-up to his 2026 World Chess Championship defence has been clouded by a slump in form, with Viswanathan Anand and GM Srinath Narayanan pointing to the upcoming FIDE Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, as a key opportunity for the 20-year-old to reset mentally and regain momentum.
According to ESPN.in, Gukesh has just one tournament left before the World Championship match: the Olympiad, where he will represent India as the reigning champions after their title win in Budapest in 2024. With the outside noise around his recent results growing louder, the focus has shifted to whether the team event can provide the spark he needs at a critical time.
Why the Olympiad is being framed as Gukesh’s turning point
Anand, speaking to ESPN.in, said the Olympiad could be the stage where Gukesh rebuilds confidence. He also acknowledged that the scrutiny around Gukesh’s form has had an impact.
“Right now it feels like we’re all beating him on the head with this,” Anand said. “He’s had a patch streak for a while, but he can snap out of it. So hopefully the Olympiad inspires him.”
India’s Olympiad captain, GM Srinath Narayanan, described the slump primarily as a confidence issue and said he believes it can change quickly. In his view, it may only take “a result or two” going Gukesh’s way for the switch to flip.
Srinath pointed to two moments in this tournament as examples of how the spiral has played out: Gukesh had “completely winning positions in the middlegame” against Arjun Erigaisi and Pranesh in the fifth and sixth rounds, but struggled after falling into severe time pressure in both games.
In Srinath’s assessment, the time trouble itself stems from low confidence.
“When you’re down in confidence, you’re constantly rechecking your moves, you’re taking a lot longer to take a decision that you’d normally do much faster. That contributed to him being low on time and as a consequence, when he needed that time to make some critical decisions he just didn’t have it,” Srinath said.
Srinath also argued that the events Gukesh has been playing have offered little margin for error, making any dip in form costly. By contrast, he suggested the Olympiad’s structure could suit Gukesh at this moment, describing it as closer to an open tournament environment—something he said Gukesh has not played in for a long time, but where he built his early successes.
“Olympiad in general is more like an open tournament, something which Gukesh hasn’t played in a long time, but that was where he built his initial successes. So that could be the tournament where there is a shift in momentum,” Srinath said.
India’s squad, past precedent, and the urgency before 2026
Srinath’s confidence in a turnaround is rooted in past experience. He referenced the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where he was also captain and where Gukesh endured what Srinath called a “horrid run.” During that period, Srinath said Gukesh’s rating dropped significantly, from more than 2750 to around 2730, before he rebounded with a strong run of tournaments that included winning the 2023 Chennai Grand Masters and eventually winning the FIDE Candidates and the World Championship in 2024.
“There was a massive spike in his level of play, so I do believe that conference can change like this,” Srinath said, illustrating the point with a snap of his fingers.
At the Olympiad, Gukesh will be part of an Indian team that includes R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi. Nihal told ESPN on the sidelines of the Chennai Grand Masters that the group’s camaraderie and team spirit can be a significant positive for a player’s mindset.
“I think our team spirit is one of our biggest strengths,” Nihal said.
The stakes are clear in the way the situation has been framed: ESPN.in notes that, as things stand, Gukesh is unlikely to defend his world title against Javokhir Sindarov if his current form continues. That is why the next month—when Srinath ramps up preparations for the Olympiad—has been positioned as a crucial window for change.
For India, the Olympiad is also about defending the crown won in 2024. For Gukesh, it is being cast as the last competitive checkpoint before the World Championship match, and potentially the most important chance to rebuild confidence through team support and a shift in momentum.
