Bengaluru, Sept. 6 -- 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. "But the world is just not bending in the way it used to. The only thing I could tell him is that it comes with the territory. "Maybe I was in a calmer place when I really got into crisis. I think he can cope." Anand (PBG Alaskan Knights) began his Tech Mahindra Global Chess League campaign with a loss to Sindarov (Fyers American Gambits) on the Icon board on Saturday while Magnus Carlsen (Alpine APL Pipers) defeated Maxime-Vachier Lagrave (CheQ Mumbai Masters). Anand spoke of undergoing "moments of shuddering halt" in his early 20s. "Even if I was slumping in classical, I would do well in rapid and feel good about myself again." What worked for him when he was struggling was acceptance. "What I did was simply thinking, well, this is not what I envisaged, but this is where we are. I'm going to put my best foot forward there. I think it's also an appreciation that you're not entered annually into the World Championship. There's a long runway to it. So that's how I dealt with it." "I blocked everything out in Moscow (vs Boris Gelfand in 2012). I stopped thinking of it. But then, game seven happens." After six consecutive draws in the match, Anand lost Game 7. He went on to pull himself together, win Game 8 and later win the match. "It's only with hindsight we plug it into the same pattern. Otherwise, every tournament is a fresh start." Gukesh will play the Olympiad in Samarkand later this month, before the World Championship match. The crown can weigh heavy. Carlsen walked away from it, Ding Liren has nearly disappeared from the circuit, and Gukesh is seemingly caught in a conveyor belt of despair. "I don't know what it is," Anand added. "It's hard to maintain that consistency."...