Is D Gukesh Crumbling Under Pressure? Hikaru Nakamura Explains World Champion's Slump

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura believes D Gukesh can recover from his recent slump if the Indian star manages to shut out the pressure and expectations surrounding him ahead of his World Championship title defence.

Gukesh has struggled for consistency since his historic 2024 World Championship triumph and has slipped to a classical FIDE rating of 2703 in the August 2026 list.

He has also endured difficult results at several major events, including last-place finishes at Norway Chess and a recent tournament in Chennai, besides underwhelming campaigns at the Tata Steel Chess and Prague Masters.

Nakamura feels Gukesh needs to change his approach and become more comfortable with accepting draws instead of constantly looking for wins.

"I don't know what Gukesh can do differently. I know what he should have done differently, which is to basically be willing to take draws in a lot of games instead of trying to play for the win," Nakamura told PTI.

Nakamura Says Gukesh Is 'Crumbling' Under Pressure

The American Grandmaster believes the expectations attached to Gukesh's status as world champion have played a major role in his recent struggles.

"But obviously, I'm not Indian. So, I don't necessarily understand the culture, all the pressure that he's facing. But I get the general sense that there's a lot of pressure whether it's external, whether it's internal. I think he's crumbling because of it," Nakamura said.

Nakamura believes Gukesh needs to distance himself from the world champion tag and the comparisons with Magnus Carlsen.

"I think if he can kind of just, like, block it all out, forget that he's world champion. You know, this is obviously quotable. But sort of forget that he's never going to be Magnus Carlsen. I'm quite confident his rating will go back up," he said.

"I don't know if it'll go to 2,800. But I mean, he'll definitely get to, like, 2,740 at least if he kind of just puts a couple of things out of his mind. But obviously, it's very hard," Nakamura added.

"I mean, he's one of the world champions. And you're not the best player. And everyone's comparing you to probably the greatest player of all time. And it's very difficult mentally."

Gukesh will next have to overcome Uzbek challenger Javokhir Sindarov in his World Championship title defence. Nakamura considers Sindarov the favourite based on current form but believes Gukesh still has a realistic chance of retaining his crown.

"Even though I think, Gukesh is the big underdog in the match, I don't think it's that unlikely that he wins the match. It's like 75-25 in favour of Sindarov... if the match happens today, Sindarov is playing better. So Sindarov is likely to win. But as I said, 75-25 doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win every time," Nakamura told PTI.

"But I think it's going to be a close match. I don't think it's going to be some blowout like a lot of people think it will be."

Nakamura also expects Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa to remain prominent figures in the world championship race despite their recent struggles.

"I think they've struggled a little bit in recent times. To me, when I look at it, I feel like Arjun, he had this bad match against Alireza (Firouzja) today, where he made a blunder, but overall, I feel like he's been playing a little bit better. I think Pragg has been playing very well of late... I think they're all playing well. I think they'll be competing for the World Championship," Nakamura said.

"Right now, maybe Arjun and Pragg are climbing back up. But at any rate, they're going to be there for a long time. They're definitely very strong players, and they deserve it."

While Gukesh prepares for his title defence, Nakamura is also contemplating the final stages of his own classical chess career.

Nakamura Eyes 2028 Olympiad As Last Classical Chess Tournament

The 38-year-old said he is considering the 2028 Chess Olympiad as potentially his last tournament in what he considers "true classical" chess.

"I'm definitely eyeing the 2028 Olympiad as perhaps my last classical chess tournament. Like true classical, it's, you know, forget about the fast classical and everything. But I am thinking about that potentially, the 2028 Olympiad and that's what I've got," Nakamura said, as quoted by PTI.

Nakamura also welcomed chess's inclusion in the ongoing Esports World Cup, saying the team-based format could help the sport reach a wider audience.

"I think what I would say is there has to be more than just two players sitting at the board playing a classical game of chess if you want there to be a bigger audience. And so I think having the teams, having fans who will cheer for us, even if they know nothing about chess, is another way to bring people in to follow a great game of chess," he said.