D Gukesh may not remain chess world champion by the end of 2026, the legendary Judit Polgar has predicted in a recent interview. Judit Polgar, the only woman to be ranked in the world’s top 10, also spoke on what could help 19-year-old Gukesh to recover from an alarming dip before he defends his world title later this year.

Gukesh won the world chess championship at 18 by beating Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in December 2024, but hasn’t won a major title since becoming the world’s youngest world champion. At the recently-concluded Prague Chess Masters 2026, Gukesh spoke about the
need for a break from the spotlight as he finished with just one win.

Gukesh to lose world chess title crown?

The challenger for Gukesh’s world crown will be decided in April 2026, with eight players set to take part in FIDE Candidates 2026. And Judit Polgar feels whoever wins the Candidates will also become the next world chess champion.

“There is a very, very big question mark whether Gukesh can stay the world champion (at the end of this year),” Polgar told The Indian Express. “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.”

While analysing what has gone wrong with Gukesh, Polgar felt that the teenager is taking fewer risks as compared to the time when he was not a world champion and had displayed remarkable mental strength, which is not the case anymore.

“First of all, he was extremely young when he became a world champion. In the world championship, he had a very special momentum because Ding Liren (who Gukesh beat to become the world champion) was very clearly having very difficult psychological and mental issues. At the same time, I think it was fantastic for Gukesh that he did not win on the chessboard, but he won because of his mental strength,” Polgar told The Indian Express.

“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.”

“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,” added Polgar.

The suggestion for Gukesh to script a comeback was to sharpen his mental conditioning and go back to taking risks.

“He has to not only work on his chess, but also has to spend a lot of time on his psychological mental preparation. How not to be afraid of making mistakes and play it out,” Polgar shared.

World chess champion D Gukesh dropped out of the top 10 in the live chess rating after suffering a crushing defeat to world No 30 Jorden van Foreest in the third round of the ongoing Prague Chess Festival Masters 2026. While Van Foreest moved into a four-way tie for the first spot along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev and David Navara with two points each, Gukesh finds himself among the bottom pack with one point from three matches.

The latest defeat to world No 30 has set alarm bells ringing for world champion Gukesh, who is ranked ninth in the official list but has slipped to 13th in the live ratings in a year in which he will defend his world crown.

Gukesh’s poor form raises concerns 

Known for his dogged resistance and insane calculation on the board, the 19-year-old Gukesh has been having a rather unimpressive 2026 after a poor 2025, where he did not win a single tournament. Earlier this year at the Tata Steel chess tournament, Gukesh finished ninth among 14 Grandmasters. He also suffered defeats against Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum in Wijk aan Zee, two players who will be competing in the upcoming FIDE Candidates 2026 to be a challenger for the Indian Grandmaster’s world title.

It’s high time Gukesh quickly rediscovered his form, else it will become extremely difficult for him to have the required confidence to defend his world crown.

On Friday in Prague, Gukesh played an erroneous game against Jorden van Foreest, but nothing can explain not pressing the clock hard enough after the 36th move. His blunder cost him valuable time as he lost 45 seconds after playing his move and the Dutch Van Foreest got the chance to plan his move on the world champion’s time.

How Van Foreest defeated Gukesh

Coming to the game, Gukesh made his biggest blunder on move 17 with the black pieces as he played Qb8 when Nd7 was the best move. But even more impressive was the rook sacrifice by Van Foreest for a knight on d4. This allowed the Dutch chess player to take full control of the match and soon went a pawn up.

After another blunder 35…Kd3, a defeat for Gukesh became inevitable, and he was forced to resign after 48 minutes – a first win over the world champion for Van Foreest.

Check moves from Gukesh vs Van Foreest game:

“Of course I’m super-happy. Not only is it my first win against a world champion, but also my first win against Gukesh. Even before he was world champion I played him a couple of times, but I never won against him and he won against me several times,” Van Foreest said.

While explaining his rook sacrifice, he said: “He was looking rather calm, and I was like, am I missing something? I didn’t see it, so I thought I had to go for it.”

“I’m up a pawn, there’s really no risk—in the worst case it’s a draw, and for him the defense will be always very difficult, even with best play, so I was happy,” said Van Foreest.

Reigning world champion D Gukesh has slammed former world champion Vladimir Kramnik over his claims of cheating in chess. Kramnik has consistently made allegations on social media about online cheating in chess but he has not been able to bring up any evidence to back his claims.

Kramnik had famously levelled allegations of cheating, without proof, against Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky who died last year at just 29. Many big names in chess world had criticised Kramnik for his unsubstantiated allegations against players.

Gukesh says he’s against cheating but…

Gukesh, who became the youngest world champion in chess history in 2024, has said that even though he is against unfair play but people are talking too much about it.

“Obviously, I’m against any kind of unfair or unethical play,” Gukesh said at a press conference before the start of the Prague International Chess Festival. “It’s a kind of problem that we have been seeing lately. Many people over the last couple of years have been very paranoid about cheating. People are making it a bigger problem than it actually is.”

“I don’t support most of Kramnik’s allegations. I’m against any kind of unfair or unethical play. I’ve never done that, and I really hope nobody does that,” he added.

He also clearly stated that he does not stand with Kramnik on this issue.

“About Kramnik, what he has been doing, I’m obviously not supporting that,” Gukesh said.

The 19-year-old will now be in action in the Prague International Chess Festival where he is among the top attractions. The world champion is seeded second behind Vincent Keymer with Hans Niemann and Nodirbek Abdusuttarov also being strong contenders. After a lukewarm last year and a poor start to the year at the Tata Steel Masters, Gukesh will be hoping for a turnaround in form in Prague.

Reigning world champion D Gukesh has been honoured with the ‘Titan of the Year’ award by Tata Group’s watch-making giant, Titan which has launched a limited edition watch as a tribute to his efforts on the chess board.

Gukesh became the youngest chess world champion at the age of just 18 when he defeated Ding Liren in late 2024. He is also only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to become a chess world champion.

Price of Gukesh’s Titan watch

Titan had last year given the award to Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma who was the first Indian to travel to space, a feat he achieved in 1984. In his honour also a watch was unvieled called the ‘Unity watch’.

Gukesh became the second recipient of the award and the first from the sports industry. The watch was unveiled on February 6 at an event in Mumbai where Gukesh was honoured as well.

“Gukesh never rushed the moment. While others chased speed, he chose stillness. While the clock counted down, his clarity only grew sharper. In chess, time reveals temperament. In Gukesh, it revealed composure far beyond his years. To honour that calm command over seconds and decisions, we introduce the Titan Grandmaster, a 500-piece limited edition tribute watch,” Titan wrote in a social media post.

Presenting Titan of the Year 2026: Gukesh Dommaraju – The Youngest World Chess Champion

Gukesh never rushed the moment.

While others chased speed, he chose stillness.
While the clock counted down, his clarity only grew sharper.

In chess, time reveals temperament.
In Gukesh,… pic.twitter.com/NvLpYU6F6h

— Titan Watches India (@titanwatches) February 10, 2026

The watch is priced at a whooping Rs 69,995 and capped at 500 pieces. It has chess pieces at hour marks like Queen at 12 O’clock, Rook at 9 O’clock, Bishop at 3 O’clock and King at 6 O’clock, while the remaining indices take the form of pawns. A chess board is also engraved in the face of the watch.

Gukesh prepares to defend his title

The reigning world champion did not have the best of 2025 and this year too did not start on the best of notes as he had an
underwhelming outing at the recent Tata Steel Chess Masters. This year is going to be crucial for Gukesh as he prepares to defend his crown which will be on the line towards the end of 2026.

His challenger will be determined next month at the Candidates where his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa is one of the eight competitors.