India, Sept. 5 -- You make the summit, win the biggest crown there is in chess at the ridiculous age of 18, only to be told: 'Lovely, now do it again.'

D Gukesh has the onerous job to do in two months' time. The defending world champion, now 20, plays Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov in an attempt to hold on to the title. His form since the World Championship two years ago has been worrying.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is in the unique position to understand what it feels like. "What Gukesh is experiencing, I've experienced a couple of times," Anand told journalists. "But he's experiencing it for the first time. You have no idea why the world refuses to work like it used to. You're working as hard as you think. You want it,...