Once again at the ongoing Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Gukesh has once again showed his calmness, which has been further proved by a heart-rate monitor. Despite failing to bag a win in the opening leg of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, Gukesh has showcased through the tournament that he is ready to perform even under pressure, and doesn’t seem to be affected by it, something which is reminiscent of Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni.
During the first game of his quarter-final defeat against Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh had only under a minute left on his clock, and his heart rate was at 78 beats per minute (BPM). Meanwhile, Caruana, who had 35 seconds more on his clock, surprisingly was on the edge, and his heartbeat was at 124 BPM.
Better than Magnus Carlsen’s heart-rate
The ongoing Freestyle Grand Slam at Weissenhaus interestingly has monitors which measure the heart-rates of players during games, and displays them on screen in real-time. Meanwhile, even Caruana pointed out Gukesh’s composure during games. Speaking to David Howell, he asked, “His was around 70?”
“That’s quite impressive… also, Magnus’s heart rate doesn’t elevate much”, he added.
Meanwhile, even official commentators Peter Leko and Judit Polgar have been taken aback by Gukesh’s heart-rate monitor numbers. Leko asked Polgar during their live coverage, “How does he do it? Who is he!”
After Gukesh’s win in Singapore last year, Upton also explained the Indian GM’s ability to cut himself off from the outside world. Speaking to HIndustan Times, he said, “That’s one of the skills that a chess player needs. Yes. With any athlete, what’s important is to be able to remain correctly focused and fully present. And particularly in a game that is almost purely mental and goes on for 6-7 hours, the ability to maintain focus is really critical, and very few people can stay fully focused with a volume of focus turned up on high and in the zone for six hours straight. What we call that in some sports is beingable to switch up and switch down.”
“You have times when you understand the next move; you understand all the options, you’ve done all the thinking you need to do, and then you just need to give your mind a little bit of a rest period. You close your eyes and that’s really just about taking all visual stimulation away. And it’s almost like a way of recharging, slightly recharging, and topping up batteries,” he added.
