2011 World Cup winner’s presence plays huge part in Gukesh Dommaraju’s historic win

The Indian sporting fraternity was left feeling proud after Gukesh Dommaraju became the Chess World Champion on Thursday. The 18-year-old was in tears after winning the title by beating China’s Ding Liren in the final game of the tournament. It is to be noted that Ding Liren came into the tournament as the defending champion. 

Paddy Upton was part of the entourage that saw Gukesh make India proud and achieve the title. The South African was a key part of India’s 2011 World Cup win with MS Dhoni as the captain and Gary Kirsten as the coach. Having qualified for the massive tournament, Gukesh was in search of a coach who could work with him on the mental aspects. 

This is how Paddy Upton came into the equation and his association with India’s young champion began. Paddy Upton has also played a key role in Indian hockey in recent times, having been part of the team during the 2024 Olympics. Team India took the third spot after beating Spain by a 2-1 margin. 

Paddy Upton praises Gukesh Dommaraju's approach

Just after winning the chess world title, Paddy Upton spoke to Indian Express and said, “If you want to do well in an exam or test, you need to study the whole book exceptionally well. Then you can go into that exam with confidence. You don’t go in with hope.”

The former Indian coach also praised Gukesh for his preparation and the way he approached the tournament. “And in terms of studying the whole book for a World Chess Championship title, Gukesh has studied the whole book. In every minor bit of detail, down to how he manages his sleep, how he manages his downtime, to how he manages himself moment to moment within a game. We’re seeing an exceptionally well-prepared professional,” he said.

When asked about how he prepared the youngster for the gruelling tournament, Upton replied to Indian Express, “We’ve discussed in minute detail about both cases: when he’s making his decisions about the moves to make and, at the same time, how he’s managing himself and his mind while his opponent is busy planning his move.”

“Other aspects of his strategy we’ve discussed is how to manage himself when he’s ahead in the game; how to manage himself when he might be behind in the game or under pressure within a game. We’ve discussed how he would manage himself if he’s ahead in the tournament, like one game up; if he’s behind, if he’s got a 6-6 position. So not only just within a game, but within the championship as a whole, it’s very clear strategies of how to manage himself when behind, when level and when ahead,” Paddy Upton ended by saying.