NEW DELHI: Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has addressed concerns about World Chess Champion D Gukesh’s recent performance slump, suggesting it’s normal for athletes to experience a quiet period after achieving major success. Gukesh, who became the youngest World Champion in December last year, has faced challenges in 2025, including an early exit from the Chess World Cup.Gukesh has not won a tournament since his victory against Ding Liren in Singapore. However, his year has seen some notable achievements, including victories against Magnus Carlsen and securing second place at the Tata Masters in Wijk aan Zee.
His recent defeat to Germany’s Frederik Svane in Goa has raised questions about his form ahead of his World Championship title defense next year.“I have to start with a disclaimer, I haven’t spoken to him. If I say something, it might be completely irrelevant to him. I don’t know what’s going on in his mind. But I think it is very normal for athletes to—after having massive success—to have a period of motivation loss or just a quiet period. It is just normal. It is just the same in every athlete’s case. I think the most important thing is to just go back to your basics, to go back to your foundation, to go back to the drawing board,” Bindra said at a press conference.“You’ve reached the mountain and climbed this peak. And human nature really is that we want to jump to the next peak. But you simply can’t jump to the next peak. You have to climb that peak down and then step by step plug the gaps that have come, cropped in and then work on the foundation and go back again. The only advice that I would really like to give (Gukesh) is all of this requires an immense amount of energy. And sometimes, after having achieved such high success, you are a little bit drained. An individual is human to be drained, not just physically, mentally, emotionally.”“It sometimes just takes a little while to really get your batteries completely recharged and full so that you can start thinking really clearly of what your next goal is or what you want to do next is. And that really helps you get through it. Because again, the reality in sport, for an athlete, the unfortunate reality in sport is that yesterday never counts. You are only as good as what you are on that particular day. You win and then the very next day the world is asking for more proof: If you are good enough, good enough to what you were yesterday, good enough to what will you be up to the next challenger.““But that is what we have to face and that is what every athlete has to undergo. But I think as long as you continue to find joy in what you are doing and keep putting in the right effort, you will be out. It’s a normal cycle that the athlete faces,” Bindra concluded.
