‘Would Be Alarmed’: Viswanathan Anand Concerned About D Gukesh Becoming Defensive Player | Sports News

Despite being in serious trouble, the reigning world champion has secured wins against world number one Magnus Carlsen and world number four Arjun Erigaisi at Norway Chess by provoking difficult situations and forcing errors.

World number two Hikaru Nakamura is surprised by Gukesh’s style, noting his fortunate escapes from losing positions against Carlsen and Erigaisi for most of both matches.

“I feel he is a tenacious defender. People often give up, and he just keeps on playing these totally lost positions, but not pointless ones. He plays the ones where he still has a little bit of counterplay, and he finds resources to hang in there. And people get careless and fatigued,” said Anand during an interaction on the sidelines of Norway Chess.

“Is he doing it all the time? It’s a couple of games in this time control (at Norway Chess). It’s true here; this is happening… I don’t know. There are a lot of trends to unpack. There’s also the fact that Hikaru was mentioning that it’s very hard to find some interesting lines to play,” added the five-time former world champion.

Gukesh, who trained at the Anand Academy, often credits Anand for his development, stating he wouldn’t be where he is without “Vishy sir”.

However, Anand expressed concern about Gukesh becoming overly reliant on defensive play, citing his subpar performance in the games against Carlsen and Erigaisi.

“…both these games he played (against Carlsen and Erigaisi) were played extremely poorly. If that’s a conscious decision to provoke a struggle, I would be alarmed,” said Anand.

“It tells me that he’s an amazing fighter; at the same time, I would not be happy if he defended in this way.”