At a social event recently, current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju made his way to chess legend Viswanathan Anand and his son Akhil. After exchanging pleasantries with Anand’s son, Gukesh turned to his idol for some light-hearted conversation where he mentioned how he had taken a short vacation after the World Cup and had gone trekking.“We’re playing against each other in the third round (of the Global Chess League).”Anand chuckles as he recollects this meeting with his 19-year-old protege and his polite reminder. With both of them playing on icon boards at the upcoming GCL’s third edition, they will face off twice with Anand wearing Ganges Grandmasters’ colours while Gukesh will play for Alaskan Knights.“I thought that sounded like someone who had checked his pairings very well. I think he’s keen to put up a good show (at GCL),” Anand tells The Indian Express.Friday will mark one year since Gukesh ascended to the world champion’s throne in Singapore. In the 12 months since that heady moment for Indian chess, the five-time world champion has met his protege on multiple occasions away from the chess board.“I have not spoken about too many things with him (since he became world champion). I’ve shot more ad films with him than I’ve had conversations with him this year, to be honest,” Anand says.Story continues below this adHe says that the two ad films that he’s featured in with Gukesh have given both of them the chance to spend entire days with each other on sets. There’s usually plenty of banter between the country’s only world champions. Occasionally, they also exchange a chess puzzle or two.Since he became world champion, Gukesh has played in plenty of events across the world. But success has been hard to come by. There have been some bright moments, like his classical victory over Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess, him almost winning the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee and him ending on top of the standings after the rapid portion of the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia. But he’s also lost games against younger and unfancied opponents at events like the Grand Swiss and World Cup in Goa recently. This has led to plenty of scrutiny about whether the crown is weighing heavy on his head.Anand’s verdict of Gukesh’s year though can be summed up in three simple words: “No big deal.”“He’s been experimenting in lots of formats. He’s willing to travel, he’s willing to go out there and try again and again. He’s not sitting on prestige (of being world champion). These are healthy qualities. His year in classical events, it’s fairly acceptable. I mean, losing a tiebreak (at Wijk aan Zee) doesn’t mean you’ve had a bad tournament. His performance in Norway Chess didn’t fit any mold, but in its own way, it was hopefully satisfactory.Story continues below this ad“It’s true that subsequently, whether it’s Grand Swiss, or World Cup, or, especially the faster formats, he’s probably disappointed. My own feeling is, no big deal. As long as he keeps pounding away at it, he’ll eventually correct the formula,” says Anand.While Anand feels that the additional scrutiny of Gukesh’s results is unfair, he understands it: “Look, Gukesh wanted to become world champion, this is what comes with the territory, he’s got to put up with it, that’s all. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair that everybody analyzes him, but that’s the job description.”Ask him if the scrutiny is similar to what he experienced when he became world champion and Anand points out that back in 2000, there were two world champions because of the split between PCA’s Classical World Championship and FIDE’s World Championship.“I don’t think for me it changed very much because I had been at the top for a very long time when I became world champion for the first time. Back then the focus was more on there being two champions. Then, in my second wave, there wasn’t anything in particular, but at some point, people start saying, ‘Okay, Mr. World Champion, show us what you got’. This becomes a sort of a theme that you don’t face as just a top player. I mean, you feel it in the air, even if people don’t say it. ‘Okay, Mr. Champion, so what’s so great about you?’Story continues below this adAnand continues: “I think the nature of a lot of pressure and scrutiny is only if you find out. If you don’t find out, you don’t know. I mean, what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you. I think the nature of social media and the internet nowadays is that the banter is constant. So, by nature, he sees more of it.”Ask Anand if he’s feeling any pressure of facing Gukesh at the GCL twice in the span of two weeks and he answers: “I’ve played him before in Zagreb. So it’s not the first time. But you know, there’ll be some drama, they’ll announce the game, and, you know, somewhere in your head, something will click. It will be extra. I think it’ll be fun, because there’ll be some attention paid to this game. It is whatever it is in terms of Indian chess. But from the point of view of the tournament, it’s one game. These kind of extra days with extra pressure, it’s also nice, and hopefully I can rise to the occasion.”