Gukesh Dommaraju’s coach Grzegorz Gajewski commented on the World Champion’s performance at the Chess Olympiad 2026. Gajewski calls Gukesh’s result good and notes that he is capable of playing even stronger. Grzegorz spoke about it in an interview with the Indian Express.

Grzegorz Gajewski

Grzegorz Gajewski

Gukesh Dommaraju's coach

“These Olympiad results are definitely good for the confidence. It’s good for Gukesh to be reminded that he can play really well.

Chess-wise the Olympiad was good but not great. Gukesh can definitely do better. Mentally he was strong and that’s the most important thing right now.

For sure his routines during the Olympiad weren’t as strict as they used to be and I think it’s a positive thing. The last year was really difficult for Gukesh and in general achieving so much comes with a price.

I think that he managed to figure it out and indeed he seems really happy now!”

The Chess Olympiad 2026 took place from September 16 to 27 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The India team finished the tournament in 2nd place with 18 points. Gukesh Dommaraju gained +7.1 Classical points during the event and moved up to 29th place in the live rating.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE