On losing spree, how Chess Olympiad could be the tonic world champ Gukesh needs
5 min readJul 21, 2026 08:58 PM IST Just a couple of hours before Gukesh D slumped to another defeat, this time to compatriot Pranesh M, Srinath Narayanan was deconstructing the 20-year-old’s recent issues over the board. Since becoming world champion in December 2024, Gukesh has yet to win a tournament, a streak unlikely to end at the ongoing Chennai Grand Masters, where he has lost five games in six rounds to be anchored to the bottom in the eight-player tournament. Srinath’s assessment was simple: confidence is Gukesh’s superpower, and when he’s low on that, it affects his results. “Gukesh is very good at calculation. But there’s an element of confidence in his game, which is probably one of the reasons why there are a lot of ups and downs in his play. When he’s really confident, he plays the same way, but he pulls off things. But when his confidence is impacted a bit, there are also big drops in his play,” Srinath said. Round 5 of Chennai Grand Masters on Tuesday before Gukesh …
