World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju described the mental challenge of playing Viswanathan Anand after his final-round victory in the Global Chess League third-place match. He shared his thoughts on December 23 in a post-match interview with Sagar Shah on the official Global Chess League broadcast.

Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh Dommaraju

Youngest-ever World Chess Champion

“It’s kind of tricky to play against him, is what I realized. For me, it’s like you’re playing against God. I’ve always seen him in that sense. So, when playing against him, I have to bring up this killer instinct, which is kind of tough to bring against him. I just have too much respect for him, I think.

He was also playing quite sharp. Obviously, I had at least three winning positions, and then he was just playing very fast. I kind of hesitated here and there, and then in blitz, you know how it goes — it just goes like that. But, luckily, at least in the final game, I didn’t lose.”

GM Gukesh Dommaraju (2754) became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion in 2024. In December 2025, Gukesh played as the leader of the team PBG Alaskan Knights which took third place in the GCL Season 3.