'Gukesh has got a similar mental wiring like Kohli'

The chess player and Virat are similar in that they perform at their best when the pressure is at their highest: Mental coach Paddy Upton

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

WHEN Paddy Upton was first approached by D Gukesh's camp, the South African mental conditioner wasn't quite sure whether to work with the 18-year-old. While Upton doesn't have a hard and fast rule about working with younger athletes, he prefers to avoid working with individuals who are young mainly because their sense of self-awareness and ability to self-reflect often hasn't developed.

Upton, though, straightaway agreed to work with the 'genius'. In an interview with this daily, the South African also talks about why he sees shades of Virat Kohli in Gukesh and why India's chess ace has prepared to face the best version of Ding Liren.

Excerpts:

On whether he has worked with athletes younger than Gukesh

I have worked with younger athletes, yes. But not very often. I tend not to work with athletes who are too young mainly because their sense of self-awareness and ability to self-reflect often hasn't developed. For that reason, I was a bit hesitant before saying 'yes'. I wanted to meet Gukesh, and assess his ability to self-reflect. But it didn't take very long to realise that he's a highly skilled individual. It was easy to say 'yes'.

On his initial conversations with Gukesh