Chess legend Judit Polgar feels that D Gukesh won’t be able to successfully defend his World Championship title this year. Since becoming world champion in December 2024, Gukesh has failed to win a title and has been experiencing a huge dip in form this year.
The winner of the upcoming Candidates 2026 will decide the challenger to face Gukesh later this year. Polgar feels that the Candidates winner will defeat Gukesh to become the next world champion.
‘Very, very big question mark’
Speaking to The Indian Express, she said, “There is a very, very big question mark whether Gukesh can stay the world champion (at the end of this year).”
“I’m sure Gukesh has a great future, but I’m not sure he’s going to be world champion after the next world championship match. But it doesn’t mean he’s not going to regain it again if it happens.”
Polgar also feels that Gukesh defeated Ding Liren to become the youngest-ever world champion due to his mental strength. Analysing his performance against the Chinese GM, she pointed out that he didn’t play ‘so much better than’ Liren, but his ‘psychological and mental strength paid off’.
“Gukesh was able to stand the pressure better. He was ready to make mistakes, but bounce back from them. He was ready to concentrate and focus. Like in a safari, the jaguar comes and attacks when he’s hunting. So he was ready for this, that whenever Ding made a mistake, he was ready. This is what happened with rook to f2 in the final game”, she said.
“At that world championship (in November-December 2024), Gukesh played well, but he did not play so much better than Ding at all. But psychological and mental (strength), I think it was a very important part of his preparation, and that paid off,” she added.
Gukesh was exposed at the Prague Masters, where he managed only a single victory. Since becoming world champion, the closest he came to winning a trophy was at the Tata Masters in Wijk aan Zee in 2025, where he lost to R Praggnanandhaa in the title-deciding tiebreaker round.
