Gukesh's incredible self-awareness led him to the World Championship title, says Upton

BENGALURU: Paddy Upton, the renowned mental conditioning coach who worked with D Gukesh, said the "incredible self-awareness" of the 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster powered him to a historic World Chess Championship title.

- Agencies

Gukesh became the youngest ever world champion when he defeated China's Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to annex the crown at Singapore on Thursday.

"I think the most fascinating thing working with Gukesh was his level of self-awareness, just to really recognise where his thoughts are being directed. So, if there was even a moment on the chessboard where he found himself overthinking, he had an amazing awareness of it, when his mind drifted off and that's quite unique," Upton told PTI.

"Gukesh has incredible powers of self-awareness and a lot of our work was helping him identify what were the things that would potentially distract his focus. So yeah, I think that's the thing that's really stood out, his ability to recognise his thoughts and manage his mind and his understanding of how to do so.

"And kudos to him, he is a world champion because he was able to manage himself and remain focused and stay in the game even though he's 0-1 down right from the beginning. So that really is a mark of a champion; they cannot be set back by such a big and early setback." One of the key aspects that Upton drove into Gukesh was that he did not have to overreach to be at his best in each of the 14 games.