Play long, tire Ding Out

GUKESH'S DEMEANOUR AT POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCES, BOTH AFTER TOUGH LOSSES AND MISSED WINS, WAS POISED

- Susan Ninan

great feel for positions and is a very intuitive player. These are exactly the areas that Gukesh has to keep working on, so he made perfect sense. Also, the fact that Gukesh feels comfortable with him.

For the Candidates, Gajewski brought in 17-year-old Polish GM, Jan Klimkowski. "We thought someone that young would bring a fresh approach and would be enthusiastic to help as much as possible, which he did."

The team for the match against Ding already had Harikrishna and Wojtaszek; what it needed, Gajewski thought, was "a top player".

Enter Keymer.

In the past, Gukesh has spoken of his friendship with 20-year-old Keymer, ranked 20 in the world. "Despite being very young and a potential rival, Vincent was happy to join the team. Gukesh always liked him so that was super important. Obviously, the fact that he's one of the top players right now from the younger generation was great. He's technically one of Gukesh's competitors, so it was good to see how he approaches the game, approaches openings and the way he functions."It was Keymer, Gajewski revealed, who was the brains behind the 7. Rel surprise of Game 7, now billed as perhaps the idea of the match.

Polish GM.Jan-Krzysztof Duda.