Vishnu Prasanna, the coach who helped World Champion Gukesh develop his playing style 

B Shrikant

Mumbai, Dec 13 (IANS) "Harmonious chaos", that's how chess Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna describes the playing style of D Gukesh, the newly crowned youngest-ever World Champion. Prasanna should know that style well because, as the 18-year-old World Champion's first coach, he helped Gukesh develop it.
 

"He thrives in harmonious chaos. I mean, chaos looks harmonious to him compared to others. And for others it is chaos. For him, it is some kind of harmony. And he has done very well in that. He's very concrete and precise, more than most people in the world already," Prasanna told IANS a day after Gukesh reached the pinnacle of chess.

On Thursday, the 18-year-old Gukesh became the 18th World Chess Champion and the second Indian to win the title after five-time Champion Viswanathan Anand. In the 2024 World Chess Final match, played in Singapore, Gukesh defeated Ding Liren 7.5-6.5, capitalising on a huge blunder by the Chinese in a drawish position in the 14th and final game. The young Indian broke the record of Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22 in 1985.

Prasanna said he did not try to impose his style of play on a young Gukesh but rather allowed him to develop his intuitive way of playing the game. Gukesh came to him in 2017 after attending a session Prasanna conducted at his school, Velammal Vidyalaya.

"He was part of a group of 6-7 students with whom I had a session. Soon after that, he came to me along with his father asking whether I would coach him. He must have liked some of the things that I discussed in that session," he said.

Prasanna coached Gukesh from 2017 to 2022, guiding the then Candidate Master into one of the strongest Grandmasters. They are still associated, Vishnu Prasanna is a coach with CircleChess, the chess school for everyone. Gukesh is the brand ambassador of CircleChess.

"I've trained him very actively from 2017 to 2022 till the end of 2022. From 2023, it became less and less active. I still have conversations with him as a mentor regarding his upcoming events. We met before the match (against Ding Liren) and talked about things, just about the mindset (that he should have). In 2023, I met him after the Isle of Man (event) and his path to the candidates. I just give him advice now because I'm kind of like an old friend he can confide in me and we are always in touch," said the 35-year-old Prasanna.

Prasanna was one of the few people who spoke to Gukesh soon after he became the 18th World Chess Champion. "I spoke to him and he was very happy. I also told him, 'This is crazy'. Whatever he's done is brilliant and we are also very happy. Yeah, it was just a pleasant exchange, nothing too technical," said Prasanna, who started playing chess at the age of 12 but shifted to coaching soon after becoming a Grandmaster.

When they met before the World Championships match, Prasanna said he told Gukesh not to take Ding lightly and even had anointed him as the favourite to win the title.

"I told him the usual things like don't underestimate Ding Liran and don't consider yourself the favourite. The favourite will be decided after the first game of the match or after the first few games of the match because nobody knows how things will turn out until you go there. And yeah, so that was my main advice. And he was in the same zone and he was mainly trying to be in good shape himself without worrying about the opponent," said Vishnu Prasanna who decided to take up coaching full-time after helping former National Champion Baskaran Adhiban finish second in the Tata Steel Chess Championship in Wijk Ann Zee in the Netherlands in 2017. In that event, Adhiban held Magnus Carlsen to a draw and and also held Wesley So of the United States.

Gukesh and his parents came to Prasanna in June 2017 asking him to take over as his coach.

So, what did Prasanna, who started playing chess at the age of 12 and became Grandmaster by 23, notice about Gukesh as he started coaching him?

"He had a certain maturity which was well beyond his age. So even at 11 years old, we could discuss very complex topics regarding performance, regarding science, regarding techniques and so on. And he was very keen to learn them. And he had a certain discipline to training, despite good results and bad results, which he always kept up. And yeah, I think that is what separated him probably. I was teaching a bunch of talented kids at the time, and most of them are in the top hundred right now. But this guy has gone far ahead mainly because of his discipline and like, a certain mindset that he had," said Prasanna, who will continue to associate with Gukesh as a mentor and as a coach at CircleChess, which is into building a complete chess training environment for beginners to take up chess.

Though he did envision Gukesh going on to become the World Champion when he was coaching him, Prasanna was sure he would be a very strong player.

"I had the feeling that he would become a very strong player and he had the capacity for that and he had the qualities for that. And I would say that, you know, I mean to become a world champion a lot of things have to happen your way. So it's not just your skill, your work. A lot of people do that and they don't become World Champions. So I was not sure if he would become World Champion but I knew he would be a top chess player very early on in our training. I mean winning the Candidates the first time and winning the World Championship for the first time are very difficult things. And yeah, he has done it well," said Prasanna.

And indeed, Gukesh has proved that he has the potential to continue to rule the chess world for a long time. Vishnu Prasanna does not doubt that and is looking forward to being associated with the World Champion.