Chess shares a link in India with cricket and hockey. Sports scientist Paddy Upton worked in Dommaraju Gukesh’s corner over the last leg of preparations before the 18-year-old Grandmaster faced off with Ding Liren for the FIDE World Championship 2024 at Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa.
The former, a South African club cricketer and rugby player before branching into various facets of coaching, has helped other Indian sportspersons manage their minds, before earning the contract to work with the current chess champion. The Indian T20 World Cup 2024 squad, India men’s hockey squad for Olympics 2024 were two prominent team sports to associate with the 56-year-old recently in the ‘High Performance’ phase.
Coached by Rahul Dravid, the Indian T20 squad lifted the ICC T20 title at the expense of South Africa, Upton’s home country, in a thrilling final at Bridgetown this year. Coached by South African Craig Fulton, the Indian men’s hockey squad retained the bronze medal, beating Spain in the placing game at Paris 2024. Dravid and Fulton, the two national coaches, tapped into the sports psychologist’s familiarity with Indian sports culture and had him on board during a critical chunk of big-tournament preparations. Upton had worked with cricket and rugby teams earlier in his career, hence team sports assignments were a familiar zone.
Chess was new head space for him, besides the novelty of working with an exceptionally talented individual achiever and Gukesh’s team of seconds (chess players-cum-experts for technical aspects of chess preparation). From the Indian Grandmaster’s side, the first approach was made by WestBridge Capital (the Bengaluru-based centre of excellence with former world champion Viswanathan Anand, is called the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy). The FIDE Candidates Championship was over in April 2024, the Indian won out of eight world’s best GMs to emerge as the challenger.
It started when one of his sponsors, WestBridge Capital, approached to figure out the things to help Gukesh in preparation for this match (World title). He has six months to prepare, one of things which transpired was about working with a mental coach.
The Indian outwitted the Chinese World Champion in 14 games to reach 7.5 points, the minimum criteria needed to be crowned world chess champion. Upton, talking to FIDE chess in Singapore, observed:
I believe not many chess players work with a mental coach, which I find interesting as the primary performance tool is the mind. We spoke probably about 50 hours, an hour and a half each day. Gukesh would discuss things he wanted to understand about managing his mind, both on the chess board and away from preparation.
The Indian had made his first-ever World Championship final entry, after winning the Candidates on first try.
For Upton, who had convinced India hockey coach Fulton and Hockey India of the necessity for the Olympic squad to travel to Switzerland ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, to meet adventure seeker and ‘life coach’ Mike Horn, dealing with an elite chess player of Gukesh’s calibre and youth was an adventure into mental conditioning. The hockey team had developed a bonding, learnt to adapt in changing match situations and overcame fear of failure during a boot camp devised by Horn, along snowy slopes in the Alps. Captained by Harmanpreet Singh and inspired by veteran goalkeeper P Sreejesh, India ended in third place and returned from Paris with a bronze around their necks. The chess contest was for the gold medal.
Performance anxiety was to be expected, with the chess world watching Gukesh and Ding engage in mental duels over 14 rounds in the Classical format. Matches were streamed live, analysed by experts on social media space during the games and afterwards, increasing the following for the FIDE event worldwide and the intense scrutiny cranking up pressure on the challenger and the champion to be creative about openings, middle game and the endgame. Mentor Viswanathan Anand was always at hand, experienced international players were part of Gukesh’s entourage as his “seconds”, to prepare the teenager for every eventuality and arm him with the know-how to last the course.
For the mind manager from South Africa, familiar with team sports in an Indian setting, accepting the mental coach offer was an adventure into the unknown. Chess was a new sport, nor was he aware about competitive chess for high stakes, a FIDE World Championship at stake.
Upton banked on a concept he terms as “universally applicable” to put the Indian teenager on the winning road. The mind manager advises sporting performers to believe in “being yourself” and not get stressed trying to do something beyond their own capabilities. For Gukesh, the World title was at stake, just like the World T20 title for the cricket team or the Olympic medal for the men’s hockey squad.
Upton drove home a point, during his interaction with FIDE chess, asserting:
One of the biggest mistakes most athletes who arrive at the highest level, a World Championship or Olympic medal, is they feel the need to do something special because of the big moment. A lot of the preparation (mental) with Gukesh was that you don’t need to do anything special than what you did at the Candidates. It is about how you do the basics, play your best moves. The whole idea (working with Gukesh) was to not try anything different, play as consistently as possible. We brought it down to two pages, telling him you are ready, you don’t need to even talk to me during those 14 games. We barely touched base, as he knew what is needed to be done game after game.
Looking back at the sports psychology aspect with the T20 squad, all-rounder Hardik Pandya re-discovered form with the ball in the West Indies, coming back from nowhere to emerge a winner. Coming to the Olympics hockey campaign, India ran into trouble against England after losing defender Amit Rohidas due to a suspension, then closed ranks to win in a penalty shootout. Team India had taken the U-turn from then on, never to look back till the bronze was sealed. Gukesh had problems with sleep during critical stages in Singapore and sought Upton’s feedback, which the player admits worked. Upton reached the venue towards the closing phase of the topsy turvy 14-game clash, clinched by the Indian 7.5 points-6.5 points.
Upton started out as in the fitness sphere, named as “strength and conditioning coach” for South Africa men’s team from 1994 to 1998, the Western Province rugby squad in 1999, before changing course to explore sports psychology and joined the Indian cricket team as “mental conditioning coach” in 2008, when fellow South African Gary Kirsten was head coach. Following India’s victory at the Wankhede stadium over Sri Lanka to clinch the ICC World Cup 2011, Upton returned home to SA as part of the then national coach Kirsten’s management team, then travelled to T20 leagues across the globe, a stint with Rajasthan Royals in 2013 renewed his connect with Indian cricket and RR captain Rahul Dravid, later on chosen to coach India in ICC World Cups. The mind training principles remained the same in Upton’s scheme of things, explanation and application differed.
