During his historic World Chess Championship victory against Ding Liren, D Gukesh showcased his calm composure to its fullest potential and it caught the attention of fans. Later on, it was also revealed that Paddy Upton, a mental conditioning coach, was part of Gukesh’s World C’ship team. Upton is famous to have worked with the Indian cricket team during their 2011 ODI World Cup victory.
Once again at the ongoing Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Gukesh has once again showed his calmness, which has been further proved by a heart-rate monitor. Despite failing to bag a win in the opening leg of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, Gukesh has showcased through the tournament that he is ready to perform even under pressure, and doesn’t seem to be affected by it, something which is reminiscent of Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni.
The Freestyle Grand Slam at Weissenhaus interestingly has monitors which measure the heart-rates of players during games, and displays them on screen in real-time. Meanwhile, even Caruana pointed out Gukesh’s composure during games. Speaking to David Howell, he asked, “His was around 70?”
“That’s quite impressive… also, Magnus’s heart rate doesn’t elevate much”, he added.
Meanwhile, even official commentators Peter Leko and Judit Polgar have been taken aback by Gukesh’s heart-rate monitor numbers. Leko asked Polgar during their live coverage, “How does he do it? Who is he!”
