Cricket’s mental guru Upton now chess champion Gukesh’s secret weapon

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh on Thursday became the youngest world chess champion at 18 years after beating titleholder Ding Liren in the last game of a nervewracking showdown to herald a new era of dominance for the countrys chess playersTaking forward the incredible legacy of the great Viswanathan Anand Gukesh became only the second Indian to clinch the coveted prize after the iconic player who owned the crown five times in his careerFollowing his historic win Gukesh credited his team of coaches seconds and training partners for their unwavering support throughout his preparation Among the key members of his team was mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton whose work behind the scenes helped Gukesh stay mentally strong and focused during the intense World Chess Championship gameGukesh D revealed and thanked his team of seconds trainers and training partners Grzegorz Gajewski Radosaw Wojtaszek Pentala Harikrishna Vincent Keymer JanKrzysztof Duda Jan Klimkowskiand mental trainer Paddy UptonI cant thank them enough Gukesh says pictwittercomPS487u2N6Jmdash International Chess Federation FIDE_chess December 12 2024Besides Upton the team included Polish grandmasters Grzegorz Gajewski and Radosaw Wojtaszek Indian chess stalwart Pentala Harikrishna German prodigy Vincent Keymer and Polish stars JanKrzysztof Duda and Jan KlimkowskiAlso ReadGujrathi hails Gukeshrsquos World Championship title win predicts boost for chessUpton is no stranger to the Indian sporting landscape The South Africanborn mental coach has had a remarkable career working with the Indian menrsquos cricket team during their victorious 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign and later with the Indian menrsquos hockey team helping them win the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 OlympicsIn an interview following Gukeshrsquos world title victory Upton revealed the depth of his work with the young chess champion Mental coach Paddy Upton says hes spoken to Gukesh once a week for the last 6 months with the plan to have him so ready no contact was needed during the match He says a big mistake players make is to think they need to do something completely different in their 1st huge event read a tweet by Chess24Mental coach Paddy Upton says hes spoken to Gukesh once a week for the last 6 months with the plan to have him so ready no contact was needed during the match He says a big mistake players make is to think they need to do something completely different in their 1st huge event pictwittercom64y7qm1Fvkmdash chess24 chess24com December 12 2024Paddy Upton was there won India won the Cricket World Cup he was there with our hockey team thats won the bronze medal and hes there with Gukesh the new World Champion Surely the best in the businessGukeshDing PaddyUpton pictwittercom8wqO0lK5Kjmdash Spandan Roy talksports45 December 12 2024Gukesh secured the requisite 75 points as against 65 of his Chinese rival after winning the 14th and last classical time control game of the match that seemed headed for a draw for most part As winner he will walk away with a whopping USD 13 million approx Rs 1103 crore from the 25 million prize purseI was dreaming this moment for the last 10 years I am happy that I realised the dream and made it into reality the softspoken Chennailad told reporters after the historic triumphWith inputs from agencies