Based on Gukesh's over the board demeanour as well as the way he handled himself in press conferences in the 2024 Candidates, I speculated that he had a sports psychologist. However, it turned out that he didn't hire Paddy Upton until after his win at the Candidates. In light of that, I suspect one "natural" reason that Gukesh is so mentally strong has to do with the fact that his family is sports-mad, and he himself considers elite athletes like Novak Djokovic and MS Dhoni to be his sporting idols. The fact that it was Gukesh who initiated contact with Upton (via his sponsor) goes to show how aware he was even before he had turned 18. All one has to do to get an idea of how the elite sports stars perform is to observe them enough and some of it will surely rub off. In Jonathan Rowson's The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, he makes the observation that one doesn't learn to serve by trying to figure everything out from scratch, but rather to model what a good serve is supposed to look like by the observation of good serves from others. For comparison, an example in chess might be to observe how strong players manage their time and how often they manage to *not* panic despite playing on in increment in difficult positions. Similarly, with the first chess stream I watched, I particularly noticed how both Caruana and Carlsen were so deliberate and carefully slow in their openings and middle games, not rushing and blundering back and forth. As it turned out, it became and remains the most accurate world championship match in history.
What are the insights from this episode that you would like to use in your life, including chess? Please share them in the comments!
Nice one. On performance coaching, it was just revealed that Gukesh worked with Paddy Upton
@@martinpaddle yes, I’ve heard about it! Proves the point
wow avetik ,i love chessmood and mustreader,its so surprise you are together
btw i am also chessmood pro:)
OMG chessmood!! What a pleasent guest :D
Based on Gukesh's over the board demeanour as well as the way he handled himself in press conferences in the 2024 Candidates, I speculated that he had a sports psychologist. However, it turned out that he didn't hire Paddy Upton until after his win at the Candidates. In light of that, I suspect one "natural" reason that Gukesh is so mentally strong has to do with the fact that his family is sports-mad, and he himself considers elite athletes like Novak Djokovic and MS Dhoni to be his sporting idols. The fact that it was Gukesh who initiated contact with Upton (via his sponsor) goes to show how aware he was even before he had turned 18.
All one has to do to get an idea of how the elite sports stars perform is to observe them enough and some of it will surely rub off. In Jonathan Rowson's The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, he makes the observation that one doesn't learn to serve by trying to figure everything out from scratch, but rather to model what a good serve is supposed to look like by the observation of good serves from others.
For comparison, an example in chess might be to observe how strong players manage their time and how often they manage to *not* panic despite playing on in increment in difficult positions. Similarly, with the first chess stream I watched, I particularly noticed how both Caruana and Carlsen were so deliberate and carefully slow in their openings and middle games, not rushing and blundering back and forth. As it turned out, it became and remains the most accurate world championship match in history.
wow